Question??
 

Hi SR friends,

This may be a silly question but does the alcoholic read Beyond Addiction too or is there another book along the same line for him? I have just downloaded this to my Kobo and am excited to start reading. I have read most of the posts in the book discussion thread but feel I should read the whole book for myself.

Thanks !

I found this in an article that was written from an interview with the authors.

Aside from family members of addicts | alcoholics or substance abusers, who else would benefit from reading your book?

We would love to see more of a shift in the conversation at large with respect to substance abuse and substance abuse treatment. That means not only with consumers of treatment but in our culture overall, with medical and other helping professionals, and within our own field of substance abuse treatment providers. It wasn’t so long ago that knowledge about substance abuse was not even a requirement at a doctoral level of therapy training, for instance, and many mental health professionals know very little about substance abuse. The conversation about substance abuse needs to change to include more acceptance of different pathways to change, more compassion for family members and those struggling with substance abuse problems, and less rigidity that enforces stigma and shame for those in most need of empathy and encouragement. So we’d be happy if more health professionals overall read this book and were inspired to learn more about evidence-based treatments and ways to help their patients who may have only the beginnings of substance use issues, so our culture is more geared toward true prevention and decreasing barriers of stigma so access to help is expanded.

There are ideological debates within our culture and within the professional world of treatment as well that also get in the way of people getting help: factions of harm reduction versus abstinence-based treatment, medication assistance versus none, and using AA or not. These debates obscure the fact that individual differences actually matter a great deal. Medication will work for some people but not others, same with AA. If someone decides against medication or against AA, we need to stop blaming the consumer for this decision (“they’re not ready” or “they’re in denial”) and instead question the rigidity of the prescription. Offering options is a motivational mainstay, clearly backed by research showing that motivation is increased when people feel they are choosing among reasonable options.

You can find information on the Smart Recovery site.
Self Help Addiction Recovery | SMART Recovery®

There is also a book for Rational Recovery called The New Cure for Substance Addiction. You can find it on Amazon.com

Thanks Morning Glory!

I have asked my AH to look at the Rational Recovery site today and I will order the book if he feels he would read it. Beyond Addiction is available at the library in town but not RR for some reason! I hope this is a method that will work for him...

Im reading this book. On the Smart Recovery forums Ive heard people say their loved ones have read it. Its a book and a view of addiction and recovery not based on an us vs them mentality. Ive jumped around the book out of excitement and there is nothing disrespectful in it I can find, and Im impressed with the first couple chapters Ive studied. Solid facts and explained clearly.

I will read all of it before suggesting it to my husband, but Im not hiding the fact Im reading it. Its also been suggested to me at Smart I not beafraid to introduce him to their site and online recovery tools. I guess a lot of couples use jt together (but seperately too).

May check out the Rational Recovery book, never looked at it.

I am adding my recommendation for Rational Recovery, speaking from the position of a recovered alcoholic. It was empowering, and stressed that I had the solution I needed within me. It presented cognitive tools I used successfully in the past, and showed how they could be relevant to me in quitting drinking.

Please feel welcome to contact me if I can offer support to you or your family member. Best to you.