Addiction is a terminal disease if left untreated... If you can imagine having 50% of who you are actively trying to kill you then you have an idea of what it is like living with this disease. The Sober Addict is a book for all those impacted by the disease addiction. Within the pages of DC Hyden's book, addicts, family members, enablers, and helpers will find unconventional ways to combat addiction from Onset to Remission. This guide will help you learn how to function with this dysfunctional and chronic illness.

What can be more difficult than breaking a drug habit? Simple: stayingclean. Melinda Ferguson follows the powerful drug memoir Smacked with this brutally honest account of her post-addiction addictions - from self-help fads, to Oprah, to 12 step meetings, to men, to Facebook. How does an addict deal with a world in which instant gratification has become the norm? How does an addict break the cycle of use and abuse that has been their life for so many years? How does an addict balance kids, a career and a relationship while fighting to stay clean? How does an addict fill the hole in the soul? In this no-holds-barred account of her life after drugs, Melinda Ferguson reveals just how easy it is for recovering addicts to slip back into the patterns of behaviour that led them to use in the first place. Provocative and often darkly humorous, she takes us to those 'dangerous' places that all addicts battle to avoid and shows us just what it takes to come back from the brink.

The first general consumer book ever on the powerful, award-winning, scientifically proven new system of intervention that is turning the recovery field on its head. 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. Key Features: --CRAFT is more effective than other types of interventions.This breakthrough new system is sweeping the recovery field. This is its first introduction to the general public. --Contains simple exercises readers can practice at their own pace, with no costly or heart-breaking interventions. --Proven successful for numerous addictions, not just alcoholism.

An empowering, practical guide to help the brothers and sisters of alcoholics-by a journalist and sibling of two alcoholics, and an addiction specialist

"A sophisticated, insightful, well-documented view of the philosophy and practice that are at the heart of the LifeRing approach. This book offers a perspective on recovery that can motivate change in clinicians and researchers as well as among individuals struggling to find their sober selves." —Carlo DiClemente, Ph.D., professor and chair, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and author, Addiction and Change "With impressive analytical clarity and therapeutic generosity, Nicolaus presents a well-argued brief for understanding the complexities of addiction treatment and accepting the full range of diverse paths to recovery. . . . [Anyone] wanting insight and balance on a vitally important public health issue will appreciate the author's lively and respectful presentation." —Judith Herman, M.D., author, Trauma and Recovery "In the words of our president, 'it's time for a change,' and nowhere is this more evident than in the field of addiction treatment. Nicolaus has written a wonderful book that presents LifeRing, a new model for self-help groups. A model based on empathy, scientific evidence, and giving people the power to make their own choices about treatment options. Indeed, change has come." —Joseph R. Volpicelli, M.D., Ph.D., executive director, Institute of Addiction Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and coauthor, Recovery Options: The Complete Guide "Powerful, engaging, and scientific. Marty Nicolaus shows that the sober self emerges by focusing on a person's strength, intelligence, supportive relationships, and the ability to ask, 'what works?'" —Charlotte Sophia Kasl, author, Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the 12 Steps "Finally, a respectful approach to persons caught in addiction. Nicolaus has given us another option in the heroic battle people fight to regain the wholeness that addiction compromises." —The Rev. Linda Mercadante, Ph.D., Straker Professor of Historical Theology, The Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and author, Victims and Sinners

Contains the three-step holistic program to total recovery that is the basis of the successful Passages approach. You will learn: the three steps to permanent sobriety; how to create a personalized, holistic treatment program to completely cure your dependency; the four causes of dependency; how your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are key factors in your recovery; and how to stimulate your body's self-healing potential to be forever free of dependency.--From publisher description.

While laying in an empty bathtub in a Motel 6 in Vermont, Mike takes a handful of OxyContin and waits for the heart palpitations to kill him. As he starts to fade he reads a text on his phone, "Son, I love you and I need to know that you're OK." Struggling to understand why anyone would care about him because of his years of drug abuse, he responds, "Mom, no one can help me." Then, in a moment of clarity, he decides he wants there to be a tomorrow and to be a part of his family again. He makes the call for help to his mother; the call that saves his life. S.O.B.E.R.*, an acronym for "Son Of a Bitch Everything's Real" describes the moment Anita Devlin and her son Mike realize that denying his addiction to pain pills is destroying him. It is the defining moment when they commit to the courageous fight to get their lives back. This is when their family's road to recovery begins. S.O.B.E.R.* offers a rare glimpse at the daily, all consuming relationship between family and addiction, told simultaneously from a mother's view and an addict's perspective. Everyone thinks Mike has it all because he is a star varsity lacrosse player, does well in school and is popular with the girls. However, Mike feels completely alone on the inside. When sports related surgeries introduce him to the world of pain pills, he uses them to mask his insecurities and spirals downward. Once in treatment, he learns that drugs are the least of his problems. The real problem is his mind. The drugs aren't making his demons disappear, they are only masking them and burying them down deeper. Mike is confident that he can be sober but he is not convinced that he can be sober and happy. Anita thinks that being a mother gives her the right to negotiate with God for her child. She sits in church and pleads, "God, I don't care what happens to me, please just take care of my son." She lets go of everything that makes her strong until she has nothing to hold on to but fear. She is afraid of what will happen if she focuses on anything but her son. This is an addiction itself. Anita becomes sick physically and spiritually. She is ashamed that she is afraid of what people will think instead of helping her only son, and she is faced with yet another hurdle... a confrontation with the truth that she herself needs to get healthy and learn to let go. We are allowed a glimpse into the family's recovery through powerful "cost" letters including one from Mike's sister and from the innocent voice of the family dog. Despite an avalanche of life's misfortunes, nothing else matters as long as they don't lose Mike. Anita, her husband Michael and their daughter Alex join forces with the Caron Treatment Center where "the patient is the family, and the family is the patient." "Addiction is an octopus" says Anita, "Whose tentacles wrap tightly around us all choking the life out of everyone in its way. The whole family needs to recover together."