Carrie Fisher, Augusten Burroughs, Leslie Jamison: 15 great recovery memoirs

In many of them, especially the fiction titles, addiction plays a role but is not necessarily the focus of the book. Addiction is powerful, complicated, and appears in our lives in a variety of different ways. The beauty of literature is its ability to convey all the exciting, ugly, complicated nuances of issues like addiction, so we might reflect on the myriad ways it impacts our world. Gary Wilson’s book Your best alcoholic memoirs Brain on Porn provides an introduction to the phenomenon of Internet porn addiction and offers advice for those who want to stop using it. It is a landmark in understanding and remaining balanced in a world where addiction is big business. Allen Carr’s Easyway approach has been applied to problem drinking by explaining why you feel the urge to drink and offering step-by-step directions to set you free.

Books to read in addiction recovery (18 MUST HAVES!)

This book is a guide to healing and living a better life for those who so desperately need it. Rubin also comforts parents by dispelling the notion that they are to blame for their kids’ problems, a feeling so many parents struggle with. Another underrated and underread book, this memoir traces one woman’s descent into heroin hell and, ultimately, her recovery and redemption. I’ve known many heroin addicts in my day, and I hate to say it, especially publicly, but very few have been able to turn their lives around. Mitchell is one of the exceptions, and she sets a wonderful example for others to follow and not lose hope. Many memoirists simply make a record of their lives, or, worse, glorify their drug addiction, but not Hanson.

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

Dr. Archambeau began treating addiction after his own recovery, and said  lived experiences can help make connections with people seeking recovery. This is one of the books about drug addiction that shows the impact of addiction on one’s family. When someone else’s problem becomes your problem, chances are very good that you’re codependent. And to say that codependency is prevalent among people whose loved ones are fighting addiction would be an understatement. When people we love are struggling and hurting, it’s so easy to throw ourselves right into the middle of their situation.

Why did I love this book?

Written by experts at the Center for Motivation and Change, Beyond Addiction is a truly unique guide for people who are dealing with a loved one’s substance use disorder. This isn’t another tough love book that tells you to get your loved one into rehab and totally detach from them. Instead it teaches you how you can play an active, important role in affecting change in your loved one, by using—are you ready for this? It also stresses the importance of self-care, which is so often overlooked by those who are trying to help a loved one in the throes of addiction.

• When we hear the word “recovery”, especially alongside “literature”, we tend to think of books on alcoholism or drug addiction.
• In Don’t Let Your Kids Kill You, Charles Rubin lets parents know that their lives are just as important as their child’s, and that self-care isn’t selfish, but absolutely necessary.
• Written by experts at the Center for Motivation and Change, Beyond Addiction is a truly unique guide for people who are dealing with a loved one’s substance use disorder.
• It eliminates the temptation to use alcohol and helps you to reclaim control over your life.

In this book you can get inspired by the success stories of other people who have walked the same path. In “Chasing the High,” you’ll discover how Kyle Keegan started with experimentation on drugs and alcohol in school in an attempt to fit in. What started as innocent experimentation became an addiction to heroin. In this recovery book, Kyle Keegan talks about how drugs turned his life upside down. Learn more about alcohol abuse, drug addiction and the recovery process.

• Drugs and addiction are part of life in 17-year-old Starr’s neighborhood.
• She found herself an overweight, depressed, middle-aged mother of three who was drinking more than a bottle of wine a day and spending her evenings Googling ‘am I an alcoholic?
• It took an almost fatal relapse to persuade him that he needed as much help as he could get.
• There have to be necessary steps taken in order not to return to the addictive life.
• Seeking Safety is an integrative and empirical approach to treating substance abuse and addiction.

Rigid rules at methadone clinics are jeopardizing patients’ path to recovery from opioid addiction

Dr. Archambeau said he hoped that the resources and information shared would empower others to embark on their own paths to recovery. “I never say I got a second chance at life, I say I got a chance at a second life,” he said. The presidential initiative also serves as the basis for the theme of the APA 2024 Annual Meeting in New York City this May. The meeting will feature special sessions related to the theme of Confronting Addiction from Prevention to Recovery that truly cover the full spectrum of addiction medicine and explore perspectives from a wide range of presenters. Our annual meeting will feature addictionologists, social workers, psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, and patients as well. This is part of the reason why we developed the presidential initiative working group which has done a fantastic job in framing the four topic areas in an informative and relatable way.

• But the way Allen Carr has put explained, it will be easier to recover completely from addiction when the steps in this book are followed.
• A powerful tool when used in conjunction with treatment, the concept pairs motivational techniques, cognitive behavior therapy, and mindfulness strategies.
• Once I was hooked on her writing, I began to see a reflection of my story in her own.
• With the love and support of her family, redemption was within her reach.
• From her excessive drinking and smoking to disordered eating and falling for the wrong men, Caroline Knapp is seemingly attracted to anything and everything that isn’t good for her.
• First published in 1954, Twenty-Four Hours a Day is a staple for many people struggling with an alcohol use disorder.
• To overcome an alcohol addiction, you need to address the underlying issues that drive your drinking behavior, develop healthy coping mechanisms, and create a support system that will help you maintain your sobriety.

Burroughs thought he was managing to keep it all together as a suit-wearing, hard-partying Manhattanite until he landed in rehab at the bequest of his employers. With the same wit and candor found in his other popular works, we follow the writer from a rehab reality check back to the bustling city, where he must learn to navigate life on the wagon. The information provided on this page is intended to be informative and does not substitute or stand for medical advice. If you are concerned about any of the issues raised on this page then please seek medical advice from a doctor or treatment specialist. If you feel that you require clinical assistance, a diagnosis, treatment, or any urgent medical care then please contact 911. In her telling, an individual’s addiction emerges out of a confluence of the substance, family, childhood trauma, peers, culture, and timing.

Drop the Rock is a practical guide to letting go of character defects that can hinder recovery. It combines personal stories, practical advice, and powerful insights to help listeners move forward in recovery. The second edition features additional stories and a reference section.