Alcoholism and Recovery

[CarolD]

Hi Everyone....

My guideline for understanding my alcoholism ...
and it also convinced me to quit drinking 4-89..

"Under The Influence"
Dr. James C. Milam & Kathrine Ketcham.

We do have excerpts as a sticky in our Alcoholism Forum
along with information about it's sequel "Beyond The Influence"

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html (Excerpts from "Under The Influence")

Amazon usually carries both very inexpensively.

Anyone else want to share about a book
they feel made a difference in their drinking?

[serenityqueen]

Once I got clean & sober, I discovered the joy of reading!

Since my medical problems/pain issues are pretty much limiting my activities of late, I am relying more on SR, of course, as a support system for myself and I recently added some more books to my collection of Recovery Related Material that I'd like to share. Most I haven't been able to read yet, but I cannot wait to finish one to begin the other.

Of course I have the Big Books from both AA & NA. These are the staples in my Recovery, kind of like flour and sugar are in the kitchen. lol I am anxiously awaiting for my 25th Anniverary Edition of the NA Big Book to arrive. I ordered this from Hazelden about 6 or 7 weeks ago and it's on backorder, due to be shipped out this past Friday the 20th. It's a gorgous, black leather bound edition with purple embossed NA letters on the front.

I have the following meditation books: Just for Today which is an NA Meditation Book,(I recently had to buy my third copy, I have worn them out) The Language of Letting Go and last week, I bought More Language of Letting Go, both by Melody Beattie. I also have the AA Meditation Book, Daily Reflections.

I am reading a wonderful book now called, A Place Called Self - Women, Sobriety & Radical Transformation. It also has a companion workbook as well that I bought. Both are written by Stephanie Brown, PhD.

I also have A Woman's Way through the Twelve Steps, by Stephanie S. Covington, PhD. I have read this through a few times, refer to it quite often and have also bought both of my Sponsee's this book. It breaks down the Steps wonderfully!

I also just bought The Narcotics Anonymous Step Working Guide. There is no author listed per se, but it is an NA sanctioned book.

I am now reading through Pain-Free Living for Drug-Free People by Martin D. Seppala, MD, David P. Martin MD, PhD with Joseph Moriarity.

One of the books in my last order from Hazelden is The Overeater's Journal - Exercises for the Heart, Mind & Soul. This is written by Debbie Danowski, PhD.

Some of these books I bought at the Central Office of Alcoholics Anonymous here in Dayton. The rest I bought online from Hazelden's Book Store. The shipping from Hazelden's is very reasonable and the delivery time, for regular shipping is pretty fast. I was surprised. I can order something on Monday and I usually have it by Thursday, no later than Friday.

My last purchase from Hazelden was for $72.00. At first I cringed when I added up the total, but then I thought, I spent much more than this some days while drinking and drugging. THIS is money well spent!

I love the new forum. Thanks for letting me share about my growing Recovery Library.

God Bless,
Judy

[Pagekeeper]

I've read quite a few books on addiction/alcoholism, but I can't really say any of them made much difference until I decided to do something about it.

I'm a bit hard headed...

I suppose, though, that one thing I read did make a difference--a huge one. And that was The Dr's Opinion in the BB. I'd had several copies of the BB over the years, but had never read The Dr's Opinion. It truly was a profound experience. Finally I understood what the heck was wrong with me.

Thanks for opening this forum.

[Lelia]

Hello!

I like the book discussion, I really enjoyed High Sobriety by Alice King, she used to be a wine expert, great read.....also Caroline Knapps book is good.

[KenL]

I read both books that Carol listed. Both are very good books and helped me to achieve my sobriety.

[Anna]

I loved "The Seat of the Soul" by Gary Zukav. It gave me the push I needed to get sober. It showed me that my soul had a purpose.

And, I loved "Drinking: A Love Story" by Caroline Knapp. It's such a painfully revealling memoir of a young, high-functioning alcoholic woman and how she found her way to sobriety. Like many addicts, she formed a close bond with a dog, after her rehab stay and she wrote a book about the love between an animal and its owner called "A Pack of Two". Also, like many addicts, she had more than one addiction, anorexia being her first problem. She wrote a book called "Appetites: Why Women Want", which is also really good and delves into the complexities of anorexia.

[tiburon88]

The Heart Of Addiction by Lance Dobes. One of the best books on addiction.


tib

[sfgirl]

Originally Posted by serenityqueen

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]

I am reading a wonderful book now called, A Place Called Self - Women, Sobriety & Radical Transformation. It also has a companion workbook as well that I bought. Both are written by Stephanie Brown, PhD.

I also have A Woman's Way through the Twelve Steps, by Stephanie S. Covington, PhD. I have read this through a few times, refer to it quite often and have also bought both of my Sponsee's this book. It breaks down the Steps wonderfully!

I love both of those books!

I have a funny/crazy story. After I finished Stephanie Brown's book, I looked up her website because she lives in the Bay Area. I started looking at her photo and I was like whoa, she looks familiar, like my mom's friend who I always knew as Teppie, who I hadn't seen since I was a little kid. Lo and behold, I did a little research and she is one and the same. It was a little freaky.

[EvilBunny]

Originally Posted by tiburon88

The Heart Of Addiction by Lance Dobes. One of the best books on addiction.


tib

I totally agree and I've read the following:

The Heart of Addiction by Lance Dodes,
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey,
Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey Schaler,
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
SOS Sobriety by James Christopher,
The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure by Chris Prentiss,
Alcoholics Anonymous by Bill Wilson and
The Tao of Sobriety by David Gregson, Jay S. Efran, and G. Alan Marlatt.

Sadly, none of them have done me a lot of good. I feel like I'm pretty knowledgeable about the subject of addiction, but I haven't been able to recover as yet.

[GotItFirstTime]

Originally Posted by EvilBunny

I totally agree and I've read the following:

The Heart of Addiction by Lance Dodes,
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey,
Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey Schaler,
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
SOS Sobriety by James Christopher,
The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure by Chris Prentiss,
Alcoholics Anonymous by Bill Wilson and
The Tao of Sobriety by David Gregson, Jay S. Efran, and G. Alan Marlatt.

Sadly, none of them have done me a lot of good. I feel like I'm pretty knowledgeable about the subject of addiction, but I haven't been able to recover as yet.

Self-knowledge avails us nothing. It is through self-seeking and humility that we recovery. One must seek God and God alone through self-less acts of service to find the humility it takes to fully recovery from a hopless state of body, mind and spirit. By looking at your books, having watched myself fish through Zen Buddism and other Tao type expereinces, I was always looking for the " Keys to enlightnement". However enlightenment will not keep us sober nor will we find the true path we seek. Humility, the self-less act of serving another is where God is.

[brother]

Under the Influence is very informative, supports other knowledge about the physical aspects of the disease, and a powerful reminder to me about what happens after the first drink. I wish that were all there was to it: not drinking = recovered.
The psychological/mental aspects of the disease are what I find to be cunning, baffling, & powerful. Any suggested reading on that with a text(s) of similar quality to Under the Influence?

[Ainslie]

Ive read a few books on alcoholism and recovery.

"Getting Sober - a practical guide to getting through the first 30 days" - By Kelly Madigan Erlandson...although I can barely remember the contents of this book now, it was vital to me in the first week of abstinence. The book suggests reading it over 30 days but im not one to follow instructions. Im still sober (a year and 6 weeks on) so I must have learned something from it!

Smashed, growing up a drunk girl - By Koren Zailckas....I bought this book because I thought it might scare me off drinking. Its about a typical college student who gets really drunk all the time and it gets her into a lot of trouble. I thought it was a well written book and I identified with the author a lot, but it did nothing to stop me drinking!

Never give up - By Graeme Alford. This book was one of the last I read before I gave up drinking, the author was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic destroyed his whole family yadda yadda. Basically its about developing what he calls "mental toughness" and rebuilding your whole life.

Im sure theres more ive read, will post when I remember!

[Future22]

So far the only books I've read on recovery are

1. AA Big Book - Read this book in about a week along with attending quite a few AA classes a day. This was back on my first attempt at sorbriety around April of this year. Although I fell off the wagon, I got a little bit from this book and the AA meetings.

2. Under the Influence by James Milam - Read this book about a month ago, straight through in 1 day. I could not put this book down. Mentioned above, it deals a lot with how alcohol affects our bodys in a lot of different was. Also provides some helpful tips on supplements and nutrition (hypoglycemia). Has helped me a ton and definitely recommend this book!

3. Alcoholism and Addiction Cure by Chris Prentiss - Read this book in a day also, straight through. The book goes through a horrific story of Chris Prentiss' son Pax(I like that name) and his battle against heroine and alcohol addiction. After numerous attempts at about every possible treatment option that never worked, Chris and Pax formed their own recovery plan and eventually opened the now famous (and highly expensive) Passages Treatment Center in Malibu. The book does detail how treatment is centered in Passages if you would want to follow it outside of Passages. However this could be costly. Although I used the information in this book in conjuction with a lot of reading I found online and proved to be supplemental to my recovery plan.


Today is day 30 of my sobriety and honestly it was a breeze. Can not recall one craving at all. I have implemented what I learned in the above books into my recovery plan. I have quite a long list of support in my recovery plan.


My possible future additions to my recovery plan are:
1. AA - On my first attempt at sobriety, went to a couple AA meetings a day, had a sponsor, read the Big Book, etc..Not AA's fault, but I eventually fell off the wagon. I feel I did not get much out of meetings. We are all different and so those who use AA for recovery and it works then wonderful. It is still an option that I an contemplating adding to my recovery plan, however right now what is working for me is not broke, so I will not fix it.
2. Accupuncture - Google Accupuncture and Alcoholism.
3. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
4. Other options (more expensive) as explained in the Alcoholism and Addiction Cure by Chris Prentiss.