The author of the #1 "New York Times"-bestseller "Beautiful Boy" offers a new paradigm for dealing with addiction based on cutting-edge research and stories of his own and other families' struggles with--and triumphs over--drug abuse.
For the past decade, author Tian Dayton has been researching trauma and addiction, and how psychodrama (or sociometry group psychotherapy) can be used in their treatment. Since trauma responses are stored in the body, a method of therapy that engages the body through role play can be more effective in accessing the full complement of trauma-related memories. This latest book identifies the interconnection of trauma and addictive behavior, and shows why they can become an unending cycle. Emotional and psychological pain so often lead to self-medicating, which leads to more pain, and inevitably more self-medicating, and so on--ad infinitum. This groundbreaking book offers readers effective ways to work through their traumas in order to heal their addictions and their predilection toward what clinicians call self-medicating (the abuse of substances [alcohol, drugs, food], activities [work, sex, gambling, etc.] and/or possessions [money, material things].) Readers caught up in the endless cycle of trauma and addiction will permanently transform their lives by reading this book. Therapists treating patients for whom no other avenue of therapy has proved effective will find that this book offers practical, lasting solutions. Case studies and examples of this behavioral phenomenon will illustrate the connection, helping readers understand its dynamics, recognize their own situations and realize that they are not alone in experiencing this syndrome. The author deftly combines the longstanding trauma theories of Van der Kolk, Herman, Bowlby, Krystal and others with her own experiential methods using psychodrama, sociometry and group therapy in the treatment of addiction and posttraumatic stress disorder. While designed to be useful to therapists, this book will also be accessible to trade readers. It includes comprehensive references, as well as a complete index.
Whether it involves drugs, alcohol, smoking, or food, addiction is an overwhelming and destructive force. While many rehabilitation programs are available, the truth is that too many people return to their old habits. Why? End Your Addiction Now not only explores the biochemical factors that are the real cause of this problem, but offers proven advice on how to break addictions once and for all. Based upon the research and experience of Dr. Charles Gantand other pioneers, this practical handbook provides simple step-by-step directions for kicking the habit. Perhaps most unique, End Your Addiction Now is designed both to guide its readers to effective physicians and treatment facilities, and to provide a path for those who wish to seek wellness on their own. At the heart of Dr. Gant’s approach is a distinctive program of nutritional supplements designed to jump-start recovery by reducing substance cravings. Dr. Gant then walks readers through a natural process of detoxification and biochemical testing that pinpoints the specific deficiencies that must be addressed to achieve complete recovery.
"Joe's story is important because it tells how a person or family struggling with addictions can find success working a combination of biochemical repair along with the standard mental/emotional program for addictions." --Dr. Bill Billica DYING FOR PLEASURE IS NO WAY TO LIVE Joe Eisele knows this firsthand. He became addicted to alcohol and drugs as a teenager, and only found the path to recovery by incorporating biochemical restoration into his treatment. In Leaving Drug and Alcohol Addictions for Good, readers experience the frightening ride on what Joe calls "the addiction train." Joe's story is layered with Sharon's, whose son became caught in the devastating, often deadly trajectory of addiction while Joe and Sharon were working on this book. "There is a big difference between finding pleasure in what life brings and and chasing pleasure at any cost," says Joe, the co-founder and clinical director of InnerBalance Health Center in Loveland, Colorado. His treatment center for people with drug and alcohol addictions includes the critical component often missing from other programs: biochemical restoration. Whether you are coping with addiction yourself or trying to help someone else get off the addiction train, you'll find a deep understanding and empathy in Joe's story, and fresh hope in how you truly can leave drug and alcohol addictions for good.
Many people are responsible for taking care of an aging parent, an ailing spouse, or a handicapped child and do so out of love, devotion, or obligation, and many others have caretaking occupations in the areas of nursing, social work, counseling, and so on. But there are other less benign caretakers in our midst. These people have an excessive need to be needed, and they assume the caretaking role not out of love, obligation, or choice of profession but due to unconscious motivations over which they have little control. This addiction to pleasing others can be as debilitating as substance addictions. Les Barbanell shows that this addiction, which he calls "caretaker personality disorder," masks psychological conflicts and can be a self-destructive force leading to exhaustion, emptiness, even suicide. Barbanell provides strategies for learning to say no, retraining one's focus from others to oneself, gaining freedom from past traumas and abuse, and learning to express rather than repress feelings in order to find a balance between kindness and a pathological level of selflessness. This book is a must-read for those suffering from the addiction to please, their families, and psychotherapists and counselors who work with them. Praise for Les Barbanell's Removing the Mask of Kindness "Barbanell delineates the pathological side of selflessness and argues, as the title suggests, that kindness can serve as a psychological mechanism for concealing emotional problems....The author effectively charts the defining characteristics of a heretofore-unrecognized diagnostic category: caretaker personality disorder (CPD). ...Recommended." -CHOICE "Les Barbanell reveals a new and shocking defense mechanism that individuals use to hid psychological conflicts. The caretaker personality disorder helps explain why an accommodating, sacrificing individual, who is always concerned with others, can end up miserable and feeling incomplete. A must read for anyone in the helping professions." -United States Association fo
The most innovative leaders in progressive addiction treatment in the US offer a groundbreaking, science-based guide to helping loved ones overcome addiction problems and compulsive behaviors. The most innovative leaders in progressive addiction treatment in the US offer a groundbreaking, science-based guide to helping loved ones overcome addiction problems and compulsive behaviors. Beyond Addiction eschews the theatrics of interventions and tough love to show family and friends how they can use kindness, positive reinforcement, and motivational and behavioral strategies to help their loved ones change. Drawing on forty collective years of research and decades of clinical experience, the authors present the best practical advice science has to offer. Delivered with warmth, optimism, and humor, Beyond Addiction defines a new, empowered role for friends and family and a paradigm shift for the field. Learn how to tap the transformative power of relationships for positive change, guided by exercises and examples. Practice what really works in therapy and in everyday life, and discover many different treatment options along with tips for navigating the system. And have hope: this guide is designed not only to help someone change, but to help someone want to change.
There is hardly a family in the post-industrial world that hasn't been affected in some way by addiction. Yet seeking treatment for a struggling loved one is, for most people, a frightening and overwhelming prospect. Ending Addiction for Good offers a powerful message of hope. Drawing on their own histories of addiction recovery, authors Taite and Scharff examine the unique and highly successful treatment protocol practiced at the Cliffside Malibu Addiction Treatment Center. Using clear and direct language, they look beyond the limits of conventional treatment to show how creating an individualized, evidence-based, and integrated approach that targets the whole person - mind, body, and spirit - not just the addiction, can provide a sure path to recovery. In doing so, they empower both the addict and the families of addicts to begin their recovery. Ending Addiction for Good may well be the most important book dealing with alcoholism and drug addiction to come along in years.
Many Christians are locked in a cycle of addiction, particularly in the areas of alcohol and drug abuse. Many have turned to 12-Step programs for help. But, where is the incredible power of Christ in this process? In a positive, non-condemning way, Anderson provides an alternative model of recovery for substance and alcohol abusers, a model that will also work for individuals struggling with other kinds of addictions. The first half of Freedom from Addictions tells the unbelievable story of Mike and Julia Quarles, and how Mike overcame a debilitating addiction to alcohol. He achieved success by applying the principles that make up the central theme of Dr. Anderson's message: that we are saints according to God's word (Eph 1) and that true freedom comes from realizing o ur identity in Christ.
Dr Olivier Ameisen was a brilliant cardiologist and running his own successful practice when he developed a profound addiction to alcohol. Fearing for his life, he immersed himself in AA, rehab and therapy. Nothing worked. So he did the only thing he could; he took his treatment into his own hands. Searching for a cure for his deadly disease, he happened upon baclofen, a muscle relaxant that had been used safely for years as a treatment for various types of muscle spasticity, but had more recently shown promising results in studies with laboratory animals addicted to a wide variety of substances. Dr Ameisen prescribed himself the drug and experimented with increasingly higher doses until he finally reached a level high enough to leave him free of any craving for alcohol. That was more than six years ago. Baclofen, as prescribed under a doctor's care, could possibly help many addicts. But as long as the medical and research establishments ignore a cure for one of the most deadly diseases in the world, we won't be able to understand baclofen's full potential. This book is a plea for research that can rescue millions from the scourge of addiction.