BOOKS
Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
Description: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs is a book by Johann Hari examining the history and impact of drug criminalization, collectively known as “the War on Drugs”. The Biology of Desire by Marc Lewis
Wired for Intimacy by William M. Struthers
Description: Pornography is powerful. Our contemporary culture as been pornified, and it shapes our assumptions about identity, sexuality, the value of women and the nature of relationships. Countless Christian men struggle with the addictive power of porn. But common spiritual approaches of more prayer and accountability groups are often of limited help. In this book neuroscientist and researcher William Struthers explains how pornography affects the male brain and what we can do about it. Because we are embodied beings, viewing pornography changes how the brain works, how we form memories and make attachments. By better understanding the biological realities of our sexual development, we can cultivate healthier sexual perspectives and interpersonal relationships. Struthers exposes false assumptions and casts a vision for a redeemed masculinity, showing how our sexual longings can actually propel us toward sanctification and holiness in our bodies. With insights for both married and single men alike, this book offers hope for freedom from pornography.
Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff
Description: ’It was like being in a car with the gas pedal slammed down to the floor and nothing to do but hold on and pretend to have some semblance of control. But control was something I’d lost a long time ago.’ Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age 11. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. He paints an extraordinary picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. Tweak is a raw, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful tale of the road from relapse to recovery and complements his father’s parallel memoir, Beautiful Boy.
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff
Description: Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction is a memoir by David Sheff that describes how his family dealt with his son Nic’s methamphetamine addiction.
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate
Description: Close Encounters With Addiction is an ebook adaptation of a lecture Dr. Gabor Maté gave in Los Angeles about his experience as a physician treating patients with addiction, trauma, and mental illness.
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola
Description: For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was “the gasoline of all adventure.” She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first- century woman. But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life. What did I say last night? How did I meet that guy? She apologized for things she couldn’t remember doing, as though she were cleaning up after an evil twin. Publicly, she covered her shame with self- deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth. The fuel she thought she needed was draining her spirit instead. A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, Blackout is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure — the sober life she never wanted. Shining a light into her blackouts, she discovers the person she buried, as well as the confidence, intimacy, and creativity she once believed came only from a bottle. Her tale will resonate with anyone who has been forced to reinvent or struggled in the face of necessary change. It’s about giving up the thing you cherish most — but getting yourself back in return.
BACK ON TRACKmarks: From Hopeless to Dopeless by Matt Peterson
Description: Addiction is a topic that has become far too common within our communities. There is a good chance that addiction has impacted your own life in some way. Perhaps you were stolen from so that an addict could get his or her next fix. Maybe your friend or family member struggles with substance abuse. Maybe it is YOU? BACK ON TRACKmarks is a book about how one young man went from being a well-raised son of a southern Baptist preacher, to a hopeless heroin addict. Love, friendship, partying, drugs, and death. This book goes through, in detail, how Matt was first introduced to opiate pain killers and how his addiction progressed into a heroin addiction that took years away from his friends, family and himself. This book also covers exactly how he was able to recover from his heroin addiction, defines the difference between loving and enabling an addict, different treatment options and advice from Matt’s parents and wife. If you are looking for hope, guidance, support or just a great story, BACK ON TRACKmarks is a must read.
Rewired: A Bold New Approach To Addiction and Recovery by Erica Spiegelman
Description: Rewired is a new, breakthrough approach to fighting addiction and self-damaging behavior by acknowledging our personal power to bring ourselves back from the brink. Centered on the concept of self actualization, Rewired will guide you towards not only physical sobriety, but a mental, emotional, and spiritual sobriety by learning to identify key principles within yourself, including authenticity, honesty, gratitude, and understanding a need for solitude. Rewired addresses the whole self; just as addiction affects every part of one’s life, so too must its treatment. By helping us to build a healthy space to support our own recovery, we can rewrite the negative behaviors that result in addiction. Usable in conjunction with or in place of 12-step programs, Rewired allows for a more holistic approach, helping to create a personalized treatment plan that is right for you. Each section in Rewired includes: • Personal anecdotes from the author’s own struggles with alcoholism and addiction • Inspiring true success stories of patients overcoming their addictions • Questions to engage you into finding what is missing from your recovery • Positive affirmations and intentions to guide and motivate. With all the variables, both physical and emotional, that play into overcoming addiction, Rewired enables us to stay strong and positive as we progress on the path to recovery. Rewired teaches patience and compassion, the two cornerstones of a new, humanist approach to curing addiction. Remember, addicts are not broken people that need to be fixed—they just have a few crossed wires.
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown
Description: Each day we face a barrage of images and messages from society and the media telling us who, what, and how we should be. We are led to believe that if we could only look perfect and lead perfect lives, we’d no longer feel inadequate. So most of us perform, please, and perfect, all the while thinking, What if I can’t keep all of these balls in the air? Why isn’t everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if I fail or give up? When can I stop proving myself? In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown, Ph.D., a leading expert on shame, authenticity and belonging, shares what she’s learned from a decade of research on the power of Wholehearted Living – a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness. In her ten guideposts, Brown engages our minds, hearts, and spirits as she explores how we can cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough, And to go to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am sometimes afraid, but I am also brave. And, yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging.
Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein
Description: How does a New York City publicist and party girl turn into a go to guide for the next generation? In her new book, “Spirit Junkie: A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles,” Gabrielle Bernstein shares the story of how she transformed her life, offering her spiritual journey as a guidebook for overcoming fear, changing perceptions, and creating a life you’re psyched to wake up for. Bernstein has traded self-doubt and addiction for a new kind of high. In 2005 she became a student of A Course in Miracles and since then she has been guided to teach those spiritual principles to the next generation of seekers.
Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism by George McGovern
Description: Rarely has a public figure addressed such difficult, intimate issues with such courage and bravery. In a moving, passionate memoir, former Senator George McGovern recalls the events leading up to his daughter Terry’s death as a result of alcoholism. What McGovern learned from Terry is an unforgettable, poignant tale certain to engender controversy and compassion.
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Description: A Million Little Pieces is a book by James Frey, originally sold as a memoir and later marketed as a semi-fictional novel following Frey’s admission that many parts of the book were fabricated.
Guts by Kristen Johnston
Description: Actress Kristen Johnston has written her first book, a surprisingly raw and triumphant memoir that is outrageous, moving, sweet, tragic, and heartbreakingly honest. Guts is a true achievement—a memoir that manages to be as frank and revealing as Augusten Burroughs, yet as hilarious and witty as David Sedaris. Johnston takes us on a journey so truthful and relatable, so remarkably fresh, it promises to stay with you for a long, long time.
The Alcohol Experiment by Annie Grace
Description: It’s YOUR body. It’s YOUR mind. It’s YOUR choice. There are a million reasons to drink. It tastes great. You feel alive. It helps you relax. But are you really in control? The Alcohol Experiment shows a new way of thinking and offers a 30-day program with a difference. It asks you to look closer at why you drink, what you get out of it and whether it’s really the alcohol that’s giving you what you want.
his Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life by Annie Grace
Description: Many people question whether drinking has become too big a part of their lives, and worry that it may even be affecting their health. But, they resist change because they fear losing the pleasure and stress-relief associated with alcohol, and assume giving it up will involve deprivation and misery. This Naked Mind offers a new, positive solution. Here, Annie Grace clearly presents the psychological and neurological components of alcohol use based on the latest science, and reveals the cultural, social, and industry factors that support alcohol dependence in all of us. Packed with surprising insight into the reasons we drink, this book will open your eyes to the startling role of alcohol in our culture, and how the stigma of alcoholism and recovery keeps people from getting the help they need. With Annie’s own extraordinary and candid personal story at its heart, this book is a must-read for anyone who drinks. This Naked Mind will give you freedom from alcohol. It removes the psychological dependence so that you will not crave alcohol, allowing you to easily drink less (or stop drinking). With clarity, humor, and a unique blend of science and storytelling, This Naked Mind will open the door to the life you have been waiting for.
Recovery 2.0 by Tommy Rosen
Description: Most of us deal with addiction in some form. While you may not be a fall-down drunk, anorexic, or a gambling addict, you likely struggle with addiction in other ways. Workaholism, overeating, and compulsively engaging with technology like video games, texting, and Facebook are also highly common examples. And if you don’t suffer from addiction, chances are you know someone who does. Through more than 20 years of recovery and in working professionally with others, Tommy Rosen has uncovered core elements of recovery and healing, what he refers to as Recovery 2.0. In the book, he shares his own past struggles with addiction, and powerful, tested tools for breaking free from the obstacles that stand in the way of a holistic and lasting recovery. Building off the key tenets of the 12-Step program, he has developed an innovative approach that includes • Looking at the roots of addiction; your family history and “Addiction Story”. • Daily breathing practices, meditation, yoga, and body awareness. • A healthy, alkaline-based diet to aid with detox, boost immunity, increase vitality, support your entire recovery, and help prevent relapse. • Discovering your mission, living on purpose, and being of service to other.
Dead Set on Living by Chris Grosso
Description: Chris Grosso invites us to sit in on conversations with beloved luminaries and bestselling authors such as Ram Dass, Lissa Rankin, Noah Levine, Gabor Mate, and Sharon Salzberg to discover why people return to self-defeating behaviors—drugs, alcohol, unhealthy eating, sex, media— and how they can recover, heal, and thrive. In his recovery from drugs and alcohol, Chris Grosso has stumbled, staggered, and started all over again. In an effort to understand why he relapses, and why many of us return to the myriad of other self-defeating behaviors despite our better judgment, he went to bestselling authors, spiritual teachers, psychologists, doctors, and more, and asked them why we tend to repeat mistakes in our lives, even when we know these actions will harm us and the ones we love. In Dead Set on Living, Chris shares these intimate conversations and the practices that have taught him to be more loving, compassionate, and forgiving with himself as well as new meditation and healing techniques he learned through his journey. Unabashedly honest and inspiring, Dead Set on Living is essential reading for anyone seeking a path towards triumph over adversity, understanding the human condition, and rebuilding relationships after promises have been broken.
Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions by Michael Moss
Description: In Hooked, Moss explores the science of addiction and uncovers what the scientific and medical communities—as well as food manufacturers— already know, which is that food can, in some cases, be even more addictive than alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. Our bodies are hard-wired for sweets, so food manufacturers have deployed fifty-six types of sugar to add to their products, creating in us the expectation that everything should be cloying; we’ve evolved to prefer convenient meals, so three-fourths of the calories we get from groceries come from ready-to-eat foods. Moss goes on to show how the processed food industry has not only tried to deny this troubling discovery, but exploit it to its advantage. A gripping account of the legal battles, insidious marketing campaigns, and cutting-edge food science that have brought us to our current public health crisis, Hooked lays out all that the food industry is doing to exploit and deepen our addictions, and shows us what we can do so that we can once again seize control.
Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening by Robert J. Meyers
Description: Historically there have been few options available for individuals seeking help for treatment-resistant loved ones suffering from substance abuse. Co-author Dr. Robert Meyers spent ten years developing a treatment program that helps concerned significant others bth improve the quality of their lives and learn how to make treatment an attractive option for their partners who are substance abusers. Get Your Loved One Sober describes this multi-faceted program that uses supportive, non confrontational methods to engage substance abusers into treatment. Called Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), the program uses scientifically validated behavioral principles to reduce the loved one’s substance use and to encourage him or her to seek treatment. Equally important, CRAFT also helps loved ones reduce personal stress and introduce meaningful, new sources of satisfaction into their life.
The Recovery Book by Al J. Mooney and Arlene Eisenberg
Description: Announcing a completely revised and updated second edition of The Recovery Book, the Bible of addiction recovery. The Recovery Book provides a direct and easy-to-follow road map to every step in the recovery process, from the momentous decision to quit to the emotional, physical, and spiritual issues that arise along the way. Its comprehensive and effective advice speaks to people with addiction, their loved ones, and addiction professionals who need a proven, trusted resource and a supportive voice. The new edition of The Recovery Book features the revolutionary Recovery Zone System, which divides a life in recovery into three chronological zones and provides guidance on exactly what to do in each zone. First is the Red Zone, where the reader is encouraged to stop everything, activate their recovery and save their life. Next is the Yellow Zone, where the reader can begin to rebuild a life that was torn apart by addiction. Finally, the reader reaches the Green Zone, where he can enjoy a life a recovery and help others. Readers also learn how to use the Recovery Zone ReCheck, a simple, yet very effective relapse prevention tool. The Recovery Zone System works hand-in-hand with the 12-step philosophy and all other recovery methods. In addition, The Recovery Book covers new knowledge about addiction mechanisms and neuroplasticity, explaining how alcohol and drugs alter the brain. The authors outline a simple daily practice, called TAMERS, that helps people to use those same processes to “remold their brains” around recovery, eventually making sobriety a routine way of life. Written by Al J. Mooney, M.D., a recovery activist who speaks internationally on recovery, and journalists Catherine Dold and Howard Eisenberg, The Recovery Book covers all the latest in addiction science and recovery methods.
Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change by Multiple Authors
Description: Drawing on forty collective years of research and decades of clinical experience, the authors present the best practical advice science has to offer. Delivered with warmth, optimism, and humor, Beyond Addiction defines a new, empowered role for friends and family and a paradigm shift for the field.
The Biology of Desire by Marc Lewis
Description: Through the vivid, true stories of five people who journeyed into and out of addiction, a renowned neuroscientist explains why the “disease model” of addiction is wrong and illuminates the path to recovery. The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease, based on evidence that brains change with drug use. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it’s supposed to do—seek pleasure and relief—in a world that’s not cooperating. Brains are designed to restructure themselves with normal learning and development, but this process is accelerated in addiction when highly attractive rewards are pursued repeatedly. Lewis shows why treatment based on the disease model so often fails, and how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery, given the realities of brain plasticity. Combining intimate human stories with clearly rendered scientific explanation, The Biology of Desire is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally.
ARTICLES
Why Mental Health Disorders Co-Exist With Substance Use
https://www.verywellmind.com/co-occurring-disorders-mental-health-andaddiction-4158280
Description: Making a correct diagnosis of both an addiction and a mental health issue is vitally important to a patient’s success. When this occurs, their chance of recovery increases. But there needs to be increased awareness of comorbidity for this to occur. Too many times, one of the conditions goes undiagnosed and untreated. As the recognition and treatment for co-existing conditions improves, this will help reduce the social stigma that makes people so reluctant to pursue the treatment that they need.
Shame: The Core of Addiction and Codependency
https://psychcentral.com/lib/shamethe-core-of-addiction-and-codependency#1
Description: Shame is a powerful driving force in many people’s lives, and the hidden shame we learned in childhood can have powerful effects on our adult lives and relationships. That said, there are ways to overcome shame and codependency.
The Comedown, Crash, or Rebound Effect of Drugs How Drug After-Effects Worsen Addiction
https://www.verywellmind.com/comedown-crash-rebound-effect-afterdrugs-4171269
Description: The effects of illegal and prescription drugs can be short-lived, causing an individual to experience a rollercoaster of emotions if such drugs are misused. A rebound effect, a crash, and a comedown are drug after-effects that cause different symptoms. These after-effects play a role in the onset and maintenance of drug addiction. This article discusses what rebound, comedown, and crash are and the role that they play in addictions. It also explores strategies that can help you cope and treatments that can help you recover from drug addiction.
How to Maintain a Social Life When You’re Quitting Drinking
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-go-out-when-you-re-quitting-drinking-4788307
Description: If you’re in early recovery, you’ll want to stay away from any situation where alcohol or drugs are involved for some time. These environments can trigger cravings and put you at risk of relapse. If you have decided to cut back on alcohol for your health, or you’re more established in your sobriety, social environments that involve drinking may be easier to navigate. Still, being prepared and having a plan can help you enjoy going out after you’ve quit drinking.
How Alcohol Compounds Its Damage to the Brain
https://www.verywellmind.com/alcohol-compounds-its-damage-to-the-brain-62747
Description: One effect of chronic alcoholism is the damage that long-term heavy alcohol consumption does to the brain. Certain regions in the brains of alcoholics shrink, creating lesions that result in deficits in brain function. Brain imaging research has shown that the prefrontal cortex (in the front of the brain) and regions of the cerebellum (in the lower back of the brain) are particularly vulnerable to the effects of long-term alcohol abuse. This means that heavy alcohol use over a long period of time will damage regions of the brain that control executive function (the prefrontal cortex) and balance and postural stability (the cerebellum).
The Road to Recovery from Your Sex/Porn Addiction Goes Through Your Childhood
https://psychcentral.com/pro/the-road-to-recovery-from-your-sex-porn-addictiongoes-through-your-childhood#1
Description: Porn addiction is not an official diagnosis, but there are various ways compulsive pornography viewing can become a problem. Here are some risk factors to look out for.
A Different Way to Think About Addiction
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/putting-psyche-back-psychotherapy/202103/different-way-think-about addiction
Description: The word “addiction” gets used a lot in our lives. There is the more precise clinical use of the term, which speaks about “uncontrolled use of a substance despite harmful consequences.” Another definition, still more narrow, says that you’re addicted to anything if you have physical withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it.
A Letter to My 10-Year-Old Self from a Person in Recovery
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/10000-days-sober/202103/letter-my-10-yearold-self-person-in-recovery
Description: Throughout my life, I have often wondered if I made all the correct choices in my lifetime. I was once asked by someone as to what advice I would give to my 10-year-old self. Growing up can be challenging, and there are so many obstacles we face. If you could write a letter to your childhood self, would it be a handbook of survival, a missive of near misses? Or a soul-lifting celebration of triumph over adversity? As an individual who is in long-term recovery, I think that this is more relevant than ever before. The following letter is what I came up with.
Addicted to Porn? How to Get Back in Control
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fixing-families/202102/addicted-porn-how-get-back-in-control
Description: Jack was a few-times-a-week guy who would troll porn sites when he had a stressful day on his job, when he was horny, when he was curious. But over the months, and now years, what started as something he could dip into and control is now controlling him: he’s spending several hours a day on porn sites.
Why Is Change so Hard in Recovery?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/10000-days-sober/202102/why-is-change-so-hard-in-recovery
Description: There has been one thing that I have learned in my nearly 30 years of being in long-term recovery: Change is inevitable. It is the one thing that is constant and that will happen to everyone. So how does change affect an individual who has had an active addiction and is in recovery? The bigger question must be why is change so hard for someone in recovery?
Confronting “The Voice of Addiction” Inside Your Head
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-kids-call-the-shots/202102/confronting the-voice-addiction-inside-your-head
Description: An essential part of recovery is recognizing and labeling the “voice of the addiction” inside your head. Though addiction can take many forms, the voice of addiction is startlingly the same. The following letter comprises many letters that people in recovery wrote to the addict’s voice inside them. While working in group therapy, in conjunction with their 12-step work, people found that writing a letter to that voice helped them separate from it and reclaim their power.
Is Addiction a Disease?
https://psychcentral.com/blog/podcast-is-addiction-adisease#1
Description: What is the link between addiction and mental illness? Is addiction a choice? In today’s Not Crazy podcast, Gabe and Lisa discuss whether addiction should be classified as a disease and whether or not it should require medical treatment. Gabe also shares his personal story of addiction and how it tied in with his bipolar disorder.
Four Phases and Steps of Gambling Addictio
https://psychcentral.com/lib/four phases-and-steps-of-gambling-addiction#1
Description: Gambling disorder can cause friction in your life, no matter what phase of addiction you’re in. Here’s how to end the compulsion. Gambling can be a fun activity for a special occasion or even a hobby. But when it becomes something you feel like you must do, it may have crossed over into gambling addiction territory. Pathological gambling is a problem whether you’re having a great time and winning or you’re down in the dumps because of a recent loss.
