The Power of Habit fundamentally changed the way I understood the inner workings of my brain. I drank away nervousness, and I drank away boredom, and I needed to build a new tolerance. Yes to discomfort, yes to frustration, yes to failure, because it meant I was getting stronger. I admittedly have this book by Ann Dowsett Johnson in my library and started it back in 2016 but have since forgotten it.
- There’s no award for “Most Sobriety Memoirs Read,” so read them for yourself — let their wisdom be its own award (I can feel your eye rolls. I’m sorry.).
- When I first read this book over ten years ago it felt like I was reading my own journal (if my journal was written in incredibly eloquent prose).
- Looking back to the psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud and the collective unconscious developed by Carl Jung, there are similarities to the suggestions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Drinking: A Love Story
I kept waiting for it to happen, and was my primary motivation at times to keep reading, but instead this turned out to be just a garden https://progenitorweb.com/6-best-books-on-alcoholism-for-understanding/ variety coming-of-age novel. The pain you feel from Emmy keeping mom’s alcoholism a secret is overwhelming. Any family reading this article and who reads this book will probably think twice about waiting another day to intervene in their loved one’s addiction when the addicted person has children who are being affected. Drinking Games is a memoir and social commentary written by Sarah Levy, a 28-year-old New York City woman whose connection with drink had become poisonous. It investigates the importance of alcohol in our early years and what it means to opt out of a drinking society. She looks after her children, enjoys drinks with friends, and is a successful writer.
Dry: A Memoir
- The resentments that develop in young children can lead them to substance use and unhealthy choices in relationships.
- Burroughs’ story will break your heart, but if you’re familiar with his other work, that might not surprise you.
- With the same wit and candor found in his other popular works, we follow the writer from a rehab reality check back to the bustling city, where he must learn to navigate life on the wagon.
- I believe this book does a great job of helping the parents of children using drugs or alcohol understand that it is not OK not to light themselves on fire to keep their children warm.
Running with Scissors is true-life memoir that recounts Burroughs’ troubled childhood. His mother suffered from mental illness and addiction, creating a situation in which Burroughs was raised in a tumultuous and unpredictable manner. This book is unique in the fact that it chronicles his childhood trauma, as well as how it directly related to his first forays into drug and alcohol use. Although his childhood experience was remarkably different from the norm, it still illustrates the vulnerability that emotional abuse creates in relation to the formation of addiction. The journey through addiction to recovery is a deeply personal experience, with no two people going though the same process to reach sobriety.
This Naked Mind
Whether the parents of an addict agree or disagree with the 12-step philosophy, we are best books on alcoholism pretty sure that there will be many eye-opening moments while reading either of these two books. In Tweak, Sheff paints a disturbingly honest portrait of addiction. Methamphetamine is a highly destructive drug, and he does not mince words when conveying the ruination that it brought to his life.
- We believe one of the best books to provide insight into the family system that works against a solution to addiction is the S.A.F.E.® Intervention & Family Recovery Coaching guide.
- James went to my college, Denison University, and is friends with many of my friends, so I loved reading the parts that took place (“fictionally”) in Granville, Ohio.
- Children of substance users and many substance users often act this way toward relationships with others.
- If you’re feeling down about “missing out” on life if you cut back on alcohol or got sober, read this book.
- Some children grow up with a void or a hole because dad was never there, or if he was, he never gave them attention or said he was proud of them.
Trauma can range through a vast range of scenarios, and it’s all in the perception of how the person sees it and how they were affected. As stated earlier, reading the book and doing nothing more would result in inaction. Family members of addicts develop an unhealthy dysfunctional family system.
My Dad Loves Me, My Dad Has a Disease
When your child is ready for help, getting them help becomes a priority. Putting their addiction first and their spouse second often ends in turmoil, divorce, and the addiction problem becoming progressively worse. Don’t Let Your Kids Kill You by Charles Rubin is very relatable to intervention professionals who have difficulty helping parents focus on themselves and not their child’s substance use problem. We would like to see unification and understanding of how working together produce effective solutions for families and parents. Dr. Mate does not appear to believe in the disease Alcoholics Anonymous concept, and Pleasure Unwoven sets out to test whether or not it is. We won’t spoil the movie, and regardless of whether or not it is a disease, there are effective solutions to treating addiction.
The Basketball Diaries exemplifies the euphemistic fall from grace that an addiction can cause, as well as the devastation that relapses can wreak upon an addict’s life. The quickest and simplest way to achieve this is to learn and practice the RIGHT strategies. He comes from the book publishing world and, again, was someone who was successful and smart, but in active addiction. He lost trust of people around him and in his field, but through sobriety he has been able to regain that trust and help many people along the way. This was the first book I read on this subject, and I instantly could relate to her feelings.
“This is How: Surviving What You Think You Can’t” by Augusten Burroughs
Waiting for the substance user leads to inaction, usually resulting in interventions more likely to punish them than help them recover. Substance users and their families will always have an intervention by society, and they have no control over the timing of this. Whether it is health, marital, or legal concerns, an intervention will always occur. When a child cannot discuss what is going on at home, it has a profuse effect on their brain development and ability to form healthy relationships and bonds. Dr. Claudia Black does a fantastic job of reaching children with her book.