hummingbird358

I was looking for a book about how to help yourself with the disease of alcoholism. I found some on amazon.com but they are mostly kindle versions and my son does not have one of them. Does anyone who has recovered from this disease recommend any books? I was hoping to get something that will catch his attention.

sg1970

The book Alcoholics Anonymous (aka the big book) covers it pretty well whether you are involved in the program or not. It can be hard to read though.

The reality is that if he's not ready to stop no book will help.

Best wishes.

Dee74

Hi hummingbird

I got a lot out of Allen Carr's book Easy Way to Stop Drinking I think its called in the US...

I really hope he decides to turn his life around soon, but I think you really should prepare yourself for your son not to want to read this or any other recovery book.

D

MIRecovery

The AA Big Book is a gold mine of information but unless you do what it suggests it is pretty much worthless. I was highly educated about addiction after a long term high end rehab. The problem was I wasn't done drinking yet.

Then one day things got so bad that I finally admitted defeat and started to work a program of recovery as explained in the Big Book

fantail

"Drinking: A Love Story" by Caroline Knapp and "Lit" by Mary Karr are both excellent memoirs about addiction and recovery. I got a lot out of both of them. And I read them when I was still ambivalent about the whole thing, while I was trying to make up my mind. I think memoir is less threatening at that stage because it's not someone telling you what to do. It's just someone talking about their own experience, which it just so happens you can 100% relate to.

fantail

Also, "When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chodron isn't directly about addiction, but it gave me a lot to hold on to in my early sobriety when I felt just awful and in crisis.

fini

"Recovery by Choice" by Martin Nicholaus is great workbook, full of questions to help people explore and see more clearly where they're at, how to move forward, their perspectives, their beliefs, their support systems, making a plan...i found it hugely helpful.
comes in paperback by mail from LifeRing Secular Recovery and ships in a few days.

cabron

Seven Weeks To Sobriety

This is a biochemical approach to understanding the long term affects of alcohol on the brain and body and a seven week nutritional road map to help you detox and on the road to recovery.