Alcoholism Books

Stanton Peele does in this book, what Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens did in their recently released books ("The God Delusion", and "God Is Not Great"), by exposing the "disease theory" for the fraudulent line of "thinking" that it is! The book is meticulously researched, and were it more current (2005, vs. 1995), I would have given it 5 stars vs. the 4 I did! I wish more emphasis had been placed on defining the term "disease" in the true MEDICAL basis of the word, vs. making the case for how EVERYTHING is a "disease", as Peele postulates. The level of research and cited examples make the thesis of the book impossible to argue against. If you are a "disease theory" advocate before reading this book, you should not be afterwards!

this book is brilliant, it was only book which accurately described the addiction process as i experienced it. its was a travesty how much time i wasted in the relgious 12-step movement, when the wisdom i needed to solve my addiction was readily available.

I can't disagree with the other reviewers who gave this book positive reviews. The truth is, not only do the 12 steppers have a monopoly on the addiction industry in America, they also believe that 96% of us are diseased ourselves. They are quick with this label-- if we are affected by an addict in our lives, we are diseased. If we come from what they insist are dysfunctional families, then we are diseased. If we suffer from any addiction at all we are diseased.

This, by the way, is despite the fact that there is absolutely no evidence at all to indicate any addictive behavior is evidence of a disease AND contrary to the fact that every study that has been done proves that addiction is NOT a disease, but a behavior that can be corrected.

Even without the labeling of common neuroses "diseases", it is important to realize that the 12 step approach has the LEAST effective success rate! THis isn't commonly mentioned at 12 step meetings! Informed consent isn't given to new or potential members, and many new or potential members head out to AA and the offshoot groups believing that this way is the only way to "get better".

When new or potential members question the dogma, they are told to "stop their stinkin' thinking!" They are told that that they must not question, just DO the steps, attend the meetings, get a sponsor, etc. They are told that their questioning is a sign of their illness. They are told they are CHRONICALLY ill, that their diseases (no matter which one we're talking about!) are progressive, that they will die or land in jail without the group. FOREVER! For one doesn't "graduate" from recovery. ONe doesn't "recover" in recovery! One is in a permanent, neverending state of recovery for the rest of her life when adhering to the 12 step model! And, they are told that the fellowship must come before their own personal needs and the needs of their families. They are indoctrinated, pure and simple, with rhetoric and slogans and dogma that effectively puts them in a Catch-22 situation. If the potential member believes he or she has a problem, he or she does have a problem. If, on the other hand, he or she doesn't believe that he or she has a problem, they are exhibiting denial, which proves that he or she has a problem-- or, I should say, disease.

And, this is a DISEASE with NO CURE, according to 12 steppers! It is imperative, for his "recovery" that the "diseased" recognizes he has a PERMANENT condition and accepts that he is powerless over his life and addiction and that he accepts that God will save him if he permits God into his life. This is the therapeutic model of the 12 step groups. In addition, once he is into the group for awhile, he will learn that the 12 steps were "divinely inspired" and given to Bill W. to record. Maybe he will carry the Big Book around with his the way evangelical Christians carry the Bible with them. . . and make notations in it and tab it and refer to it for guidance. He will be encouraged to only read program "literature".

Many 12 steppers believe that the 12 steps should be brought into the schools and used as a way of life beginning in the kids' school years-- to ward off negative habits (or diseases, as the 12 steppers refer to them) from happening.

This is NOT a quit-drinking program! This is NOT a quit-having-neuroses program! As a matter of fact, it follows no therapeutic model that is known elsewhere. What other therapeutic model requires or strongly suggests that one spends an abundance of time with other self-professed sick people? Do therapists recommend that schizophrenics spend all their time with other schizophrenics to get healthy? Or, would it make more sense to surround one's self with healthy people who are role-modeling healthy behavior?

Obviously, I'm a 12-step skepticist. However, I wasn't always this way. I've only become this way after educating myself to what is going on here in America. Living a healthy life is our choice. We have free will to make choices, bad or good. There is no disease in the world that causes one to continually stop at the liquor store, open the bottle, pour it into a glass and bring it up to one's lips and then swallow. And then do it again. We have to figure out why we choose this even when negative consequences are resulting. Not label ourselves diseased and live our lives in constant neverending recovery.

This book contains valuable information that will save lives, not only the lives of those gripped in addiction who might continue addicted because the treatment industry has perpetuated folklore about their condition, but also the quality of thier lives and the lives of their families as well. How many of you have put your loved ones in a "Treatment" Center only to have them return to drink or drugs again? Yet you might be told "relapse" is "normal," in the "disease" of addiction. Could the problem of frequent "relapse" be perpetuated by the treatment industry itself? Is there really a medical disease-alcoholism-- that only the religious superstitions of Bill Wilson can arrest?

If the abstinence model dressed with AA dogma is helpful, why so many relapses? Why do so many studies show these treatments are no more effective than nothing at all?

Look at the case of Darryl Strawberry. Why is his wife out posing in defense religious treatment center magnates when Darryl has yet to be cured--in spite of the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent at top-name treatment centers? Could it be these treatments have actually harmed Darryl Strawberry?

What about the insurance companies who pay out tens of thousands of dollars for a "treatment center" that offers religious superstitions as "treatment?" This is a problem, especially since it helps boost medical insurance premiums sky high for everyone, including the vast majority of former addicts who manage to steer clear of treatment and quit on their own when they are ready.

Thanks to bold writers like Stanton Peele, a chink broken in the wall of Treatment Fantasy is becoming an enormous hole. Naturally, treatment moguls don't like Stanton. What else might we expect?

Stanton Peele, The Diseasing of America 2/E (Lexington, 1995)

There are two types of people in the world: those the recovery zombies have already attacked, and those they will. It doesn't matter if you don't drink and don't smoke, they'll find something else about which you're "diseased"-- perhaps you enjoy shopping, you like to eat, you spend a couple of weekends per year in Vegas. Did you know these are all symptoms of diseases? Oh, you didn't? Well, they are. Don't believe it? You must be in denial. Here, let us help you lead a more well-adjusted life.

Peele seeks atonement for starting this craze with his book Love and Addiction in 1984. (As a side note, the one important thing Peele does NOT try to atone for is his almost singlehanded corruption of the definition of the term "addiction," which he misuses throughout the book; when reading it, you might be better served by substituting the word "compulsion" every time you see "addiction." Addiction requires, by definition, a physical component, and thus it is impossible to be addicted to most of the things that Peele admits are really addictive.) He does this by stating in no uncertain terms that the addiction/recovery industry has gotten way out of hand, then spends the next two hundred fifty pages outlining one of the scariest stories I've ever read-- the sixty-year history of the recovery industry, beginning with the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.

Along the way, Peele stops on occasion to point out some obvious factors we tend to overlook in our quest for political correctness (e.g. the race- and class-based aspects of alcoholism, which are blatantly obvious to the eye but resisted by the mind thanks to decades of being told that alcoholism has nothing to do with class or race). While he occasionally slips into the same crevasse he's trying to close by citing statistics without backing them up, the majority of what he gives us is surrounded with footnotes and citations, important when you're accusing those around you of pulling their figures out of thin air.

Some of Peele's ultimate conclusions should be taken with at least a grain of salt (he could have done himself a couple better by continuing his questioning to its ultimate conclusion, rather than stopping a step short and wholeheartedly endorsing the "family values" idea, which may need questioned even more than

AA's dogma), but that doesn't make the research any less valuable. In a society where "innocent until proven guilty" is a the rule, anyone who expects their word to be treated as gospel and makes sweeping statements only needs one person to find fault with one supposed "fact" they spout. Peele has found a lot of faults with a lot of facts in the original AA dogma, and shows us exactly how the most distorted pieces of the AA marketing scheme have been used to create and power the larger recovery industry in America today.

They will come after you. The faster you read this book, and the longer you spend absorbing its contents, the better-armed you'll be when someone accuses you of "addictive" (actually, compusive) behavior. While I can't give the book five stars thanks to Peele's wimping out in the last chapter, this is certainly a life-changer, and one of the most important books that's ever crossed my path. I strongly urge everyone I know to read this as quickly as possible. **** 1/2

This book is brilliant in its simplicity. It shows very clearly how well intentioned half truths can take on a life of their own. And it is done in a very orderly fashion. It can be argued that many people cannot handle the truth and that lying to them is an act of kindness, but someone needs to tell the truth to the rest of us who can handle it. That is this book in a nutshell.

The author takes apart the doctrine of Alcoholism bit by bit. The progression of the chapters is done very well. The examples are not excessive and even though there are a lot of scientific references in the text, the book is written for easy access to the layperson. And for anyone who has had the Doctrine of Alcoholism forced upon them, this book is not only a page turner, it is delightful revenge. There is very little truth in the modern American view of excessive drinking, and this book exposes the anti-drinking fanatics for what they are.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see the lack of negative reviews of this book. It does indeed hint that there are many people out there who would rather handle an inconvenient reality than to cling to a comfortable lie.

All I can say is "wow"!! This book changed my life and the way I view the world. If you've ever been close to an "alcoholic", you KNOW inherently that there is something missing in the conventional thought and explanations presented by AA and the Rehab industry. How is it possible, for example, that a helpless victim of "the disease of alcoholism" can EVER exhibit control over their drinking, which they invariably can and do in specific instances? This book explains it and the answer will blow you away. Everything you thought you knew about alcoholism is probably wrong. As you read this book, this inescapable truth will amaze and bewilder you. Most shocking, the research community has known for DECADES that there is no such thing as "the disease of alcoholism", but has withered in the face of the powerful (and supposedly useful) "disease" culture firmly engrained in our contemporary society. If you are not moved by the large body of research and near uniform agreement among serious researchers referenced throughout this book, you'll be hard-pressed to deny the simple logic by which the disease concept of alcoholism is systematically destroyed.

Why is it important to expose the myth of alcoholism as a disease? If your ailment is incorrectly diagnosed, what are the chances you will receive the right treatment for recovery? Not good. In this book, you will read about numerous research studies that strongly support the argument that our current methods of treatment are almost worthless. Herbert Fingarette provides an invaluable service to all of us who really want to understand the problem and help those who suffer from problem drinking. This can only happen if we are realistic about the nature of the problem. When you read this book, it will be clear to you that, as a society, we have a long way to go. But, what YOU can learn form this book can improve your life and the life of those you have a much better chance of understanding and assisting. Read it.

When I was an intern at a mental hospital in suburban Detroit I worked with a host of social workers who seemed to blame everything that anybody had on alcoholism. It was bewildering to me the way in which they responded to every family problem with a nod of their heads and a resuscitation upon the evils of drinking. I had no idea as to just how anti-intellectual and dogmatic they were about this issue until I brought in Fingarette's work and watched them explode. I read passages out loud which led one of them to begin trembling and then yell at me. She said that he had to be wrong and wondered "why" he would write such a book in the first place (how I've grown used to such politically correct reasoning over the years--alas!). Another looked quite upset but did not raise her voice. She told me that she could not write as eloquently as Fingarette, yet, regardless of his skill, he had misanalyzed the situation. The fact is, his basic premise that alcoholism cannot be a disease because once you stop using the disease disappears, cannot be refuted. It is such an obvious but perfect argument, and one so reeking with truth, that it sends conformists scattering like a shotgun burst. Thank you so much, Herbert Fingarette, for this magnificent work.

I copied this verbatim from Orange Papers. Org.

I used to be a 12 step aholic.

What, Lois? Me go get a job? Oh dear, I can feel an anxiety attack coming on. I think I'm about to relapse...

Bill would not let even Lois, who was dying to do so, write the chapter titled "To Wives." After all, she was the wife who had endured Bill's drunken years and the houseful of alcoholics he was trying to wrestle into sobriety. "I have never known why he didn't want me to write about the wives, and it hurt me at first," she said.
Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, Nan Robertson, pages 70-71.

Bill had a grandiose sense of self-importance, and exaggerated his achievements and talents, and expected to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements, like his belief that he was essential to other alcoholics' recovery, and his wildly exaggerated claims of success in drying out alcoholics, and his years-long nationwide tours, grandstanding and promoting his own legend.

Bill was preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, like the Oxford Groups' "Absolute Purity, Absolute Honesty, Absolute Love, and Absolute Unselfishness". Bill also liked to imagine that he was launching a movement that would sweep the entire world and save all of the alcoholics. Bill even claimed that A.A. was "the miracle of the century", and "probably one of the greatest medical and spiritual developments of all time."

Bill believed that he was "special" and unique -- the only man in the world with the answer to alcoholism (or, before that, the first American to make a working boomerang, or the only man on campus to truly understand calculus). Bill thought that he understood God, alcoholics, and alcoholism better than anybody else in the whole world.

Bill required excessive admiration.

Bill certainly had a sense of entitlement, and felt that he deserved the best of everything, like all of fame, credit, and prestige, all of the money, and all of the women, and even a house in the country and a Cadillac car supplied by the A.A. organization. Bill also felt entitled to dictate the terms of other people's recovery from alcoholism, and even to dictate their religious beliefs.

Bill Wilson was outrageously, heartlessly exploitative. He used everybody, and he discarded and drove away people when they refused to kowtow to him.

Bill Wilson lacked empathy -- he didn't even think about the welfare or recovery of the women alcoholics whom he was thirteenth-stepping, and he disregarded the recovery of the unbelievers whom he drove away from A.A.. And Bill even disregarded the feelings of his own wife Lois while she supported him for years.

Envy of other people seems to be the only characteristic of narcissism that Bill Wilson did not overtly display, but I think that he was envious. Bill spent his whole life trying to prove that he was just as good as other people. He must have felt envious of those other people who were born with a higher status than him, and who were never cursed with alcoholism, whose honor and morality was never questioned.

Bill certainly showed arrogant, haughty behaviors and attitudes.

Bill strongly displayed "Vulnerability in self-esteem". He couldn't stand criticism. He lashed out in defiant counter-attack whenever he was criticized, as shown in the cases of his wife, his calculus professor, his business partner Henry Parkhurst, and Ed the atheist who dared to challenge Bill's bombastic religiosity. When Bill was criticized, he often nursed a bitter resentment over it for years, until he could get his revenge, or he went into a fit of deep depression that often lasted years.

Bill's interpersonal relations were very impaired due to "problems derived from entitlement, the need for admiration, and the relative disregard for the sensitivities of others". Bill fought with everybody from his wife to his best friend and partner Henry "Hank" Parkhurst to the A.A. members who wouldn't believe in God as Bill dictated. Loud screaming matches were routine behavior for Bill Wilson.

And Bill certainly suffered from "Major Depressive Disorders":
A one-year-long depression in his childhood when his parents divorced and his mother left Bill and his sister with his grandparents.
A three-year-long depression when his high-school girlfriend died.
Various sporadic depressions throughout his drinking career.
Then, while sober, an eleven-year-long deep, crippling, clinical depression from 1944 to 1955, from indeterminate causes.
And Dr. Alexander Lowen added one more characteristic of narcissism:


The tendency to lie, without compunction, is typical of narcissists.
Narcissism, Denial of the True Self, Alexander Lowen, M.D., page 54.
That fits Bill Wilson too.


A.A. began as a branch of another cult religion called "The Oxford Group", which was the creation of an evil fascist renegade Lutheran minister named Dr. Frank Nathan Daniel Buchman, who actually admired Adolf Hitler and praised the Gestapo leader Heinrich Himmler as a "wonderful lad".

The cofounders of Alcoholics Anonymous, William Griffith Wilson and Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, were both enthusiastic true-believer members of the Oxford Group cult, and they simply adapted Buchmanism to their own ends when they created Alcoholics Anonymous. For all practical purposes, Alcoholics Anonymous is simply Frank Buchman's cult religion dressed up in a different suit of clothes.

The A.A. religion pushes a concept of God that is worse than medieval.
According to A.A., God is a fascist dictator, an authoritarian, vindictive Old-Testament-style patriarchal God Who will kill you with a painful slow death by alcoholism if you don't
believe in Him, and
constantly confess your sins to Him, and
grovel before Him, and
Seek and Do His Will every day.
According to Bill Wilson, God uses "the lash of alcoholism" to force people into the A.A. religion, where they will find endless "Serenity and Gratitude" while working as slaves of God.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are not "spiritual principles", they are cult practices that Bill Wilson got from Dr. Frank Buchman's Oxford Groups. The Twelve Steps are a recipe for building a cult religion, not a formula for quitting drinking:
The Twelve Steps do not even tell you to quit drinking, or to help anyone else to quit drinking, either.
The Twelve Steps don't even mention sobriety, recovery, or health, but they do mention surrender to the cult, and going recruiting for the cult, and guilt-inducing confession sessions.
The 12 Steps also mention God, directly or indirectly, in 6 of the 12 steps. The Ten Commandments of Judeo-Christian religions mention God fewer times than that -- only 4 or 5 of the 10 commandments refer to God, directly or indirectly1 -- but the A.A. true believers still insist that A.A. is not a religion.
Seven of the 12 steps, Steps Four through Ten, are designed to induce guilt in members by having them make long lists of every sin they ever committed, and every fault, moral shortcoming, and defect of character they have, and then they have to confess it all to another member and God. Then they make another list of everybody they ever hurt or offended, and confess that, and try to make amends. And then they have to repeat the whole process again, and again, for the rest of their lives.
The Twelve Steps tell people to surrender their wills and their lives to "God" or "Higher Power" or the A.A. group, and to pray to "God" or "Higher Power" or the A.A. group, and then the Twelve Steps tell people how to pray and what to pray for, but the A.A. true believers still insist that A.A. is not a religion.

Twelve-Step enthusiasts declare that the Twelve Steps, just like good old-fashioned snake oil, will cure anybody of anything. They claim that the Twelve Steps are equally applicable to everybody from drug addicts to gamblers, from compulsive shoppers to emotional wrecks to rape victims, from divorcees to diabetics, from schizophrenics to fat people. The 12 steps really do have just as much to do with being a rape victim as they have to do with being an alcoholic -- absolutely nothing.

Fingarette's book assults basically all of the central tenets of the alcoholism-as-disease industry, including the causes of alcoholism, the lack of self-control of an alcoholic, the efficacy of treatments, and the chances of recovery. The idea that somehow a person can't help but be an alcoholic, can't control his own behavior as one, and can't get better without specialized treatment administered by self-appointed experts, is simply demolished by the evidence, presented in hard numbers quoting study after study. It becomes clear that alcoholism or what we call alcoholism is in fact not one 'disease' that can be 'treated', certainly not in the way they have been over the last few decades.

The book skewers the logical inconsistences regarding the treatment of people supposedly unable to control their drinking in any way by insisting that prior to beginning treatment they voluntarily stop drinking. It analyses the success/failure ratios of various in- and out-patient treatment and arrives at the conclusion that no treatment does anything much more for the patient than would an hour in front of a competant shrink. He refutes the argument that alcoholics not in some kind of program are doomed by showing that fully 30% seem to recover completely on their own, regardless of circumstances of treatment or cause.

The problem is that people have made decisions over a period of time in which for them drinking has become the 'central activity' in their lives, around which almost all revolves. This can be replaced with another less destructive choice but it takes time and effort. And here is the frustratingly sad part because while it is doable many choose not to do it. Much as society would like to help, and Fingarette has some suggestions (unfortunately most of them involving Big Brother state-imposed solutions), in the end the choice is that of the problem drinker. There is as yet no pill or injection or psychological treatment available to make imprudent and self-destructive people prudent and self-affirming.

Bucking the vast industry that benefits from the current dominant approach taken to deal with alcoholics is not easy. Fingarette's classic of scholarship and common sense was a brave and fundamentally positive contribution to helping people with serious problems.

Reading this book I found my way to recovery from alcohol. I recommend this book to somebody looking for a recovery from drugs or alcohol. It helps me a lot.

It is a very helpful book for somebody who is really looking for a recovery (from alcohol or drugs.) A family member after read this book start his recovery. Now I could say he is not a drunk anymore. Thank Mr. Siluk!

Having just entered into the world of alcoholism as a lay person, via my son's addition,I was hoping to find through Mr. Siluk's book a clearer understanding of my son's world and the world of addiction in general. Mr. Siluk, while proclaiming years of experience in counseling different forms of addition, writes his book as if he, himself, is under the influence. While there are more gramatical errors and misspellings than can be counted, to add insult to injury, Mr. Siluk also felt it necessary to curse throughout the book, chase rabbits, and go off on tangents that no one elementary in their understanding of this disease could have dreamed of following. The book is disapointing not only from an informational standpoint, but is so unprofessionally written that if Mr. Siluk does, in fact, have the credentials he boasts, one would wonder how any publisher would underwrite such an endeavor.

I found this book simple to read, I was not checking for grammar or whatever, but for substance, and it has that. I have noticed on many other sites this book is rated high, and it has out sold most in its field; it has helped my friend, and thank goodness someone has written a book common folks can understand.

The writing style is convoluted and overly wordy. Grammar aside, I learned nothing new about understanding alcoholism and addiction. To be fair (fair, and not fare is the correct spelling here), the author did work for a number of years as a licensed psychologist, and draws upon his vast array of experience. However, the work is written in such a disjointed manner that the reader loses focus from the topic: overcoming addiction. In one paragraph he refers to bulimia, then a couple of paragraphs later, he's on something else. His facts are not supported by other experts or studies. He cites no experts or references. He uses no statistics or charts to underline his main or strongest points. Moreover, he should have focused one or two addictions, not dozens of them. Trying to address all of them, or as many as possible, hurt the quality and focus of this work. The book had such potential (in its subject matter), but the author didn't quite carry through. In addition to being poorly written, the work is self-gratuitous. The author means to relay his knowledge and experience in the field, yet the reader learns more about the author than alcoholism and addiction. (Ex: then I did this, then I did that, etc.) All writers in this field weave in their personal experiences and some case studies, but Siluk isn't quite able to master this art.

I only write reviews on Amazon when the books are really good or really bad. This book is definitely in the latter category. I read the book once and assumed I missed something so I read it again. Nope, still couldn't figure out what the bold new solution was that the cover claims. The writing style is extremely boring and the author uses about 3 or 4 questions in every paragraph. How did this guy get published when he is asking the reader for answers? Don't waste your money or your time.

This book is a great support for 12-steppers. Dovetails nicely with my understanding of strong recovery.

Brilliant book once again confirming addiction is not
a character defect. Dr Ruden is right on the spot! The concept is not new, it was started by Dr Joan Larsen in the early 80's

This Second Edition of The Craving Brain adds significantly to the First Edition. Looks to me like it adds two chapters, though the cover says it only added one. Anyway, the two chapter _titles_ added are "Biobalance to Mindfitness" and "Curing Sobriety." The only other changes seem to be minor edits moving away from 'medications as panacea' and towards attitude and lifestyle changes to accomplish the same results with fewer complications.

Here is my review of the First Edition, and it still stands:
Why do I stuff a whole bag of candy or quart of ice cream into my face? Why am I obsessed with Suzy down the street? Why do some people become alcoholics while others don't who drink just as much? Why am I so depressed? How can I learn to be satisfied with just the amount of food, sex and excitement that is good for me? This amazing book explains a neurobiological mechanism common to all these questions and more. It also provides helpful tools for the management of excessive cravings. This is done with such clarity and simplicity, and is potentially so valuable to humanity, that I believe it should be taught in school.

Anyone who has had issues with depression, obsessiveness, impulse control or addiction should be sure to get the Second Edition, which adds a lot of material on non-drug management of such problems.

In addition to reviewing the neurochemical, environmental and genetic mechanisms of addiction, Dr. Ruden phenomenally explains the role that chronic, inescapable stress contributes to addictive behavior. I cannot recommend the book highly enough to healthcare professionals and the addicted interested in exploring the basis of the addictive process.

I gave this book to my patient - he liked it, while usually it's difficult to engage him in reading

This is a very good beginning for someone who is in treatment and ready to get out. It presents an encouraging, practical viewpoint without overwhelming amounts of rhetoric.

I purchased this for a relayive who is just out of detox. She found this extremely interesting and helpful to guiding her through the trials and challenges she is currently facing. She feels it is a must read for everyone experiencing sobriety and family members too to understand the first year and first time sobriety.
So I give it 5 stars and a review of excellence!

My first year of recovery has been a real roller coaster of emotions. This book has helped me make sense of them. It made me feel not so alone. I'd highly recommend it, to anyone in their first year of sobriety.

For that matter, the whole blame game is a bait-and-switch stunt. They will start off by telling you that it isn't your fault, alcoholism is not a moral stigma because it's a disease and you are powerless over it.

" I was a sick person. I was suffering from an actual disease that had a name and symptoms like diabetes or cancer or TB -- and a disease was respectable, not a moral stigma!"

The Big Book, Marty Mann, Women Suffer Too, 3rd Edition page 227 and 4th Edition page 205.
But after you have joined Alcoholics Anonymous and become a committed member, then they will tell you that you are guilty and personally responsible for everything.

The First Step showed me that I was powerless over alcohol and anything else that threatened my sobriety or muddled my thinking. Alcohol was only a symptom of much deeper problems of dishonesty and denial.
Listening to the Wind, A.A. Grapevine, December 2001, page 34.

It's all just a mind game designed to get you to surrender to the cult.

Wilson was serially unfaithful to his wife Lois. Wilson 's affairs with women caused controversy and concern within AA and it was common knowledge in New York AA circles. His interest in younger women increased with his age, and caused Barry Leach and other friends of Wilson to form a "Founders Watch". People were assigned to keep an eye on Wilson during the socializing that followed AA functions and to separate and steer away those young women who caught Wilson's interest. Wilson, like many in his generation, could be sexist, but he was also "capable of treating the women who worked with him with dignity and respect". In the mid 1950s he began an affair with Helen Wyn, a woman 22 years his junior, "in duration, intensity and scope" this was different from his other affairs. Wilson at one point discussed divorcing Lois to marry Helen. Wilson with determined perseverance was able to overcome the AA trustees objections, and renegotiated his royalty agreements with them in 1963, which allowed him to include Helen Wynn in his estate. He left 10% of his book royalties to Helen and the other 90% to his wife Lois. In 1968 with Wilson's illness making it harder for them to spend time together, Helen bought a house in Ireland.

In the 1950s Wilson experimented with LSD in medically supervised experiments with Gerard Heard and Aldous Huxley. With Wilson's invitation his wife Lois, Father Dowling, and Nell Wing also participated in experimentation of this drug. Later Wilson wrote to Carl Jung, praising the results and recommending it as validation of Jung's spiritual experience. (The letter was not in fact sent as Jung had died.)

At a parapsychology meeting in the 1960s, Wilson met Abram Hoffer and learned about the potential mood-stabilizing effects of niacin. Wilson was impressed with experiments indicating that alcoholics who were given niacin had a better sobriety rate, and he began to see niacin "as completing the third leg in the stool, the physical to complement the spiritual and emotional." Wilson also believed that niacin had given him relief from depression, and he promoted the vitamin within the AA community and with the National Institute of Mental Health as a treatment for schizophrenia. However, Wilson created a major furor in AA because he used the AA office and letterhead in his promotion.

For Wilson, spiritualism (communicating with the spirits of the dead) was a life-long interest. One of his letters to his spiritual adviser Father Ed Dowling suggests that while Wilson was working on his book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions he felt that spirits were helping him, in particular a 15th century monk named Boniface.[18] Wilson believed that the living could communicate with the dead and kept a "Spook Room" in his basement, where he along and others would conduct seances with a Ouijiboard, as well as experiment with automatic writing. Despite his conviction that he had evidence for the reality of the spiritual world, Wilson chose not to share this with AA.
The Harvard Mental Health Letter, from The Harvard Medical School, stated quite plainly:


On their own
There is a high rate of recovery among alcoholics and addicts, treated and untreated. According to one estimate, heroin addicts break the habit in an average of 11 years. Another estimate is that at least 50% of alcoholics eventually free themselves although only 10% are ever treated. One recent study found that 80% of all alcoholics who recover for a year or more do so on their own, some after being unsuccessfully treated. When a group of these self-treated alcoholics was interviewed, 57% said they simply decided that alcohol was bad for them. Twenty-nine percent said health problems, frightening experiences, accidents, or blackouts persuaded them to quit. Others used such phrases as "Things were building up" or "I was sick and tired of it." Support from a husband or wife was important in sustaining the resolution.

Treatment of Drug Abuse and Addiction -- Part III, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, Volume 12, Number 4, October 1995, page 3.
(See Aug. (Part I), Sept. (Part II), Oct. 1995 (Part III).)

So much for the sayings that
"Everybody needs a support group."
and
"Nobody can do it alone."
Most people do.

And note that the Harvard Medical School says that the support of a good spouse is more important than that of a 12-Step group. But A.A. says just the opposite:
"Dump your spouse and marry the A.A. group, because A.A. is The Only Way."

This is a great book. I have been around the AA program with family members for my entire life and this approach for the hard headed or unconventional alcoholic/user is wonderful. I am happy to have found this and am using these new methods daily.

I have been using this program for 9 months. I know it works for me and see great progress with my afflicted one. It is uplifting, gives me hope and encouragement, and makes sense. I read passages I have underlined almost every day. I learn something almost every day. This struggle is not easy and this book helps me a great deal.

I am so happy to recommend this book!

I was looking for a better way to get my friend into treatment and found some of the latest research on HBO's website for their series, "Addiction". The HBO website has video clips that describe the CRAFT method and how it is proven to be the most effective, so I bought this book with high hopes.

My friend decided he was ready for detox within a week of using this approach. I am grateful for tips like watching for a window and planning for treatment in advance. CRAFT is about empowerment with positive reinforcement - without anger or judgment. This book shows how important it is to avoid shame and guilt about addiction.

I wish I could give this book to everyone in Al-Anon. Al-Anon was not offering anything but a support group for feeling OK about doing nothing - "Letting Go". It did not make sense to detach from my alcoholic friend and wait for him to hit a new bottom. I did not want to isolate him further or fall back into enabling and this book explained how to take action in a healthy way.

Thank you to the authors - and to HBO for promoting CRAFT. Why isn't this more talked about?

I'm a therapist who works with the family members of substance users. I always use this book with my clients and they LOVE it. They like the easy to read format, the exercises that encourage change, and the positive tone of the book. I can't tell you how many lives this book has helped change. If you have a family member or close friend who has an alcohol or drug problem, this is the book for you!

I have read this book...i have given copies of it free to many clients...and have gotten only good feedback...and i have heard the shrill voices like those of these negative reviews for so long now i could cry...there are better and more effective ways to help families of alcoholics..this book outlines them, including explaining the research findings now for 20 years on this topic. So when will people start to listen to hear what works in the real world, not what they want to believe and insist on jamming down everyone's throat. These "disease of alcoholism" people with their constant attacks on those struggling to really change their drinking...with their demeaning language and desire to put everyone safely in the same box...the "alcoholic...we all know what that is" box...hurts all of us...treatment providers (me), clients and families alike. The truth is: Alanon does not help the alcoholic, interventions hurt the alcoholic, CRAFT helps everyone. Wake up and grow up please.

I friend recommended this to me. Now, through understanding the issues associated with drinking this book will help me improve the rest of my life. Buy it, read it and recommend it to others you care about.

Dr. Johnson's book, at it's simplest is a summary of the treatment that his center provides for alcoholics. His book traces what creates the alcoholic, how the alcoholic can get treatment, and what family members and co-workers of alcoholics can do to help. I didn't glean a whole lot from his book that I didn't already know, although I did find his graphs/figures helpful to help understand how alcoholics can get stuck in this inevitable cycle once they take the first drink.

The chapters that cover treatment talk about how his facility provides it - several weeks-months of detox, followed by outpatient therapy/AA. I felt this portion of the book wasn't necessarily intended for an alcoholic, the family of an alcoholic, but more for a medical professional looking for a quick summary of treatment options. The end of the book includes an appendix of the paperwork that they provide at the facility.

The book is a fairly quick read and is very well organized. I got little new information from the book but I am glad that I read it as it gave me a little more detailed insight into the treatment options and procedures for alcoholism.

Excellent information for those stuggling with an alcoholic in the family. All Vernon Johnson books good.

I was very disappointed in this book. I was looking for a self-help book for a family member who has not yet consented to attend AA. The foreword alone is insulting and I know they would never get past that before laying the book down. It is dry and difficult reading. It took the author three chapters and a graph to explain that an alcoholic has to drink more and more to feel better and sinks further into depression each time. Why not just say it. Maybe this book is intended more for the person studying alcoholism, not living with it. Clinical studies and statistics won't put them on the road to recovery. I'm glad I read it first. If this was the first book I got them to read, it would be the last.

The problem drinker took it to work the very next day as I had "left" it on the coffee table without saying a word. Another book reccommend is Am I or am I not an alcoholic? I read him a chapter before he goes to his game. He doesn't verbally fight with me about reading it like I thought he would.

OMGAWD! This book was so much fun to read. I was belly-aching with laughter with every scene with Sandra's family. I agree with a previous post of course, I wouldn't recommend it for teenagers, maybe young adults 17 and up. I'm over 21 and I wouldn't even tell my own mother what's contained in this book!(huf huf)There's a bit of immoral stuff in there that you could only find some type of animal doing, but you can find the main character and her two other humans-turned-dog getting into some pretty funny situations. Remember that this is supposed to be a story told by a teen in Britain so certain words and phrases are different from other fantasy books. If there is room for a sequel, I wouldn't hesitate in purchasing that book, too. The author's certainly got a knack for making a story of a dog's life interesting and funny!

The concept behind this book is great, but it was a dry and boring read. Instead of exploring many different things a dog might think or experience, the author just revisited a couple of different ideas over and over again.

Once again Melvin Burgess captures my imagination. This was really great read. I couldnt put it down. The ending is totally not what I expected but expect from Burgess. I think the lesson with this novel is to live your life the way you want it.

This book is NOT for young teens! Very snappy read, very hip and really, really funny. Bittersweet story with the right ending- not sentimental, not moralistic, just plain fun. I read it straight through.

A bargain.

Lady My Life as a Bitch by Melvin Burgess dealt with many teenage issues such as teenage love, independence from family, and behavior. The title refers to a girl named Sandra who becomes a dog named Lady. Sandra wants to be independent and is almost in control of her risqué life. One day while out with her current boyfriend, Sandra encounters a homeless alcoholic. When she accidentally knocks over his beer, the alcoholic changes her into a dog, which is what she deserves according to some, the way she lives her life.

Frightened and not sure what has happened Lady as she is mow called runs to her house where her mom screams, calls the police, and tries to shoo her out of the house. When Lady sees herself in a mirror she truly realizes what has happened to her. That night in a shack she meets two dogs, Mitch and Fella who were also turned into dogs by the neighborhood drunk. They explain the situation in between sniffing. They also explain how great being a dog can be the pleasures of running all night and chasing cats.

Although being a dog is great Sandra does miss her family and goes one day to see them. With her dog memory she can only just remember them. Sandra carefully sneaks into her old room and puts some of her old clothes on and creeps downstairs. What will her parents think? Will they believe their beloved daughter presumed missing or dead is alive in the body of a dog? Will she ever be herself again? Read this to book to find out.

Jon Nebel Rhodes in her book, Don't Give Up Before The Miracle, shares a tell all tale of her Dark Night of the Soul years. Her descent into hell on earth is described in whirling dervish fashion, as is her ascent to find heaven on earth. Joni finds inner peace and balance in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I hope Joni will write a sequel sharing how she has maintained her recovery, as I feel she will be a healing light that shows the way for others. I read the book three times to really glean and understand what all she went through...I think she must be a global rightbrained creative type...She does NOT walk her path linearly but rather in a spiraling mandala God-led maze sort of way...nevertheless, her story is everyone's story...from the walking wounded through to the victory of healing...I feel every woman in a recovery program needs to read this book. I am sure they will be as inspired as I was to move forward with courage and grace like Ms. Rhodes did when she came home to herself....Ellen Lohr, LMBT, B.A. Ed

I have a friend whose life pretty much paralleled Jon's - until I read this book I had no idea what that friend went through or how strong she was to survive and get sober. Jon's moving, and often frightening story is one to be shared.

The first reading of this book was a chaotic, personal, confusing whirlwind for me. Then, I read it again. This time I experienced, through Nebel-Rhodes, the downward spiral of alcoholism and the altered states of the bi-polar personality. Many authors write about their lives as alcoholics or their hell with manic depression, but Nebel-Rhodes takes you with her on the trip. From her achingly disjointed childhood journey, through her multiple relationships seeking love and acceptance, to her release to a higher power, the author lets you run with her from Virginia to Nepal as the alcoholism consumes her spirit and nearly her life.

Ms Rhodes biography makes up in shear determination what it may lack in literary style. She has opened the window to her soul and we find that there can be a peaceful ending....not the sugar coated happy ending we often find. Her Miracle came after many years of self destructive behavior. We may not have the same problems in our own lives, but we can find hope that we too can survive until we find our own Miracle.

while i have the utmost respect for jon's journey, and recovery... i just felt the book waffled on too much about things that were childlike in discription and often overdone. i ordered 3 of the books, one for my sponsor, and a friend in A.A. because for me, the title implied she would stick mainly to her battles with alcoholism and bi polar illness. it sometimes got to the point where i had to go back and check that i had the right book, and not one about someones travels around the world, to and from ft. lauderlale, which all got rather stale. i hate to write negative reviews, but i have shelves and shelves of womens stories and mens stories, and i just dont think she stuck to the issue enough. it wasnt gritty enough...i dont think she delved into the awfulness of her hospital experiences, and the pancreatitis sufficiently...i dont know..it just didnt get me in the guts. in fact she seemed pathetic, poor me the victim...and as for the prostitution part..she made it seem like she was licking enveloppes for a living. all in all, it needed to be less about the travels, the mills and boone descriptions of her experiences travelling and more about the ravages oh her illness in a real in your face honest gutsy banter...that she simply doesnt possess. i dont think she turned what could have been an awsome look at a survivors journey, into a hop skip and a jump thru this pretty petite troubled air-stewardess/nurse/hooker/alkie/bipolar life instead of being true to herself and the real horror of her life. sorry, but im not usually disappointed by someones account of their life, it seems wrong to criticise it. but this book just didnt do it for me. give me caroline knapp anyday...or elizabeth wurtzel, not forgetting Jean kirkpatrick. hey guys...so shoot me! maybe i should try writing my own, then i can stand in judegment. see. im already feeling awful. bloody typical alcholic.

This is a must own book for anyone who is in recovery - one day at a time from alcoholism. Every house should own this as part of your library and reading a bit of it daily. Your healthy sobriety depends on it.

Sobriety seems very difficult at times, but it passes when you have your structure in place.

It is soooo worth it!

Merna

Pocket of Pearls: A 30-day pocket workbook to start hearing a softer voice inside of you!

This book has a wealth of knowledge in it based on recovery from chemical dependecy and alcoholism. Its detailed view of the twelve steps and twelve traditions can be applied to any problem that anyone faces in there journey thru life. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to find the road to recovery from any life altering addiction or chemical dependency.

As always it is good to have these books for our Monday Night Group. I was having trouble ordering them locally so went to Amazon and had them available and priced well. I like the size. They are easier to store in our file cabinet. We give these books to new members of our group.

This Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book is core for living -----and for living with our families. The hidden (and usually not talked-about in meetings) problem, though, is that more than 80% of A.A.'ers go home to a still-drinking spouse/child/elderly parent. Learning how to deal with all that is often critical to helping to maintain a sober and more sane daily life. The million-selling Getting Them Sober: You Can Help! (Getting Them Sober) book (endorsed by 'dear Abby' and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale) gives literally hundreds of practical and effective ideas on just how to do that.

It was common knowledge among the old-timers that Bill never finished--or even attemped to finish--the 9th step: He claimed the statute of limitations ran out... This is somewhat obvious by noting the tense change in his story in the original book--at the time of its writing he did not claim to have made amends--only that he was "supposed to set right the wrongs". He never achieved "the promises", or any regular peace of mind, and spent the remainder of his life chasing many other solutions, including LSD therapy, to battle the terrible depressions he suffered. It's interesting that, in this book, Bill claims that the 6th step "separates the men from the boys", when it is almost always the 9th step that takes that something extra to accomplish (apparently, it was too much for him). Further, note the copyright--the year after Bob died. It is likely that Bill didn't dare print this nonsense while Bob was around. This book is just Bill's thinking, and is not the consensus of the folks that really worked the program, as the original text is. He was a great salesman, but a very poor example of how to live--his sobriety was as a result of essentially living in the meetings, rather than that of leading a spiritual existence. This book is just his neurotic ramblings, and was written for the sole purpose of generating income for him. Too bad it has distracted so many from the original message.