15 Best Books on Alcoholism and Treatment for 2021

It removes the psychological dependence; allowing you to easily drink less . Lawyer and veteran William Porter struggled with alcoholism at various points in his life. His sobriety inspired him to heavily research alcohol and its effects on the body, mind, and we continue to drink even when we know it harms us. The result is a thorough, in-depth scientific look that is still easy to digest. Author Veronica Valli is an addiction therapist and recovered alcoholic herself, offering a deep and sincere understanding of an alcoholic’s journey.

Most importantly, it illustrates that alcoholism and addiction are not moral failings, but rather scientific differences in our brains. For some, this means medication prescribed by a trained medical professional. If you’re looking into other options for your alcoholism, the Sinclair Method, the process of retraining your brain to not crave alcohol, may be a solution for you. Our society puts a lot of pressure on drinking to celebrate; weddings, holidays, birthdays. It can be hard to separate the idea of celebration with sobriety, but that’s what Catherine Gray explores once a drinker makes the decision to drink no more. If you’re looking for guidance, a place to start, or just want to know you’re not alone in your journey, these books on alcoholism and sobriety may help. Lucado masterfully examines the cross of Christ and wonderfully draws out just how significant the crucifixion is. This book will leave the reader in tears overwhelmed by the grace of God showing the reader just how much God loves them.

“This Naked Mind” by Annie Grace

Often, we hear the stories of people with addiction finding redemption once they have children—but this is not that kind of story, which is precisely why we love it. It’s about a woman who longs to belong and find comfort in her new life with her husband and baby but instead develops a gripping addiction to wine. It takes guts to admit that you have an addiction to drugs or alcohol . These twenty-six authors Sober Home have shown incredible bravery and resilience in sharing their most painful experiences and deepest vulnerabilities in public as they recount their roads to recovery. It is also the book for you if you consider faith to be a necessary piece for the puzzle that addiction recovery entails. This is a story of faith and love through the journey of recovery, more than just a tale from alcoholism to sobriety.

During the 30-day journey, Grace offers insight into addiction, includes exercises for mindfulness, and discusses how to recognize destructive habits connected to drinking. If you are witnessing a person battling addiction or are in denial about substance abuse, reading books about how to approach addicts is a fantastic place to start helping someone else or even yourself. For instance, Understanding and Helping an Addict , by Dr. Andrew Proulx, provides readers with the questions and answers that are below the surface of addiction. Also, relapse prevention and recovery skills are added so loved ones can help others. Depending on the genre, books can be extremely informational, as well as very relatable. They should never be used alone, though, because alcoholism treatment from a professional is essential for recovery. A Memoir can be a tool by which an author can relate to a reader, and in turn a reader can understand another person’s experience in relation to their own. Spanning over 400 pages, “The Big Book” houses memoir styled stories from Bill W, and co-writer Dr. Bob, (the founder of A.A. in Akron, Ohio) called Bill’s Story and Dr. Bob’s Nightmare. These personal experiences detail how the 12-step process came to be, and explain how the reader can find it within themselves to reach a high power over alcohol and maintain permanent celibacy from drinking.

The Easy Way to Control Alcohol

Hepola’s tone is often funny and loose but she writes with a journalist’s precision and the book reads almost like a thriller. After one particularly harrowing experience in a hotel, Hepola gets sober and the reader realises she has been holding her breath for a couple hundred pages. Hen we hear the word “recovery”, especially alongside “literature”, we tend best alcohol addiction books to think of books on alcoholism or drug addiction. But humans recover from all manner of trials and they do so in ways that defy the traditional arc of addiction lit – a hero’s journey through denial to rock bottom and back up again. This book can provide great value for the person who has quit drinking and still does not feel good on a daily basis.

In this dark but incredibly comedic memoir, Smith tells all about her story and the road she finally took to recover from her perpetual numbing. Jerry Stahl was a writer with significant and successful screenwriting credits – Dr. Caligari, Twin Peaks, Moonlighting, and more. But despite that success, Stahl’s heroin habit began to consume him, derailing his career and destroying his health until one final, intense crisis inspired him to get clean. When she looked around she couldn’t help but notice that she was very much not alone. Lush explores the ongoing addiction crisis amongst middle-aged females through Cohen’s lenses in a very relatable style. This is a darkly comic book about the slow road through recovery, really growing up, and being someone that gets back up after screwing up. The paperback will be coming out in January 2021 everywhere books are sold, (but preferably from your local, independent bookshop!).

Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life by Kelsey Miller

Her journey covers sobriety, beating cancer, and building a richer life than she’d ever imagined. In this essay collection, Coulter writes with wit about a life in transition—and what happens when you suddenly look up and realize that maybe everyone else isn’t quite doing things the right way. I could not put this book down , talk about gut-wrenching honesty and not holding anything back. When I worked in beauty, Cat was a beauty editor at Lucky and xoJane.com, so I knew of her. I found this book uncomfortable at times and very funny at other times. It is the real deal and Cat is a talented writer, but most of all a survivor. I did many things I am deeply ashamed of, and reading her book taught me that I am not alone.

They call into question the beliefs we’ve been raised with, and stereotypes of addiction. Each of these authors demands that we face addiction as an intimate, human story as well as a broad public health and safety issue. Many family members try to control the situation for fear of the situation improving. They are afraid that if the substance user gets better, they will no longer be needed in the relationship, and they will no longer have a purpose. Every unhealthy family member has adapted to the maladaptive ways of handling the situation, and it has become their new normal. The control of continuing the status quo is driven by the fear of letting go of the maladaptive coping skills and thoughts that are now part of the unhealthy family system. Families continue to control the situation instead of facing the fear of the change that will come if they stop. This vulnerable, sobering book is a deep look into gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of “hustle,” and the destructure power of addiction. It is all told through the eyes of Jackson, his family, and his community. The Recovering takes a deep dive into the history of the recovery movement while also examining how race and class impact our understanding of who is a criminal and who is simply ill.

Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff

Today I get it, especially if the child is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Even if God is not your thing, putting your spouse and yourself before your child’s addiction is highly recommended. When your child is ready for help, getting them help becomes a priority. Putting their addiction first and your spouse second often ends in turmoil, divorce, and the addiction problem becoming progressively worse. When you put your child’s addiction first and enable them, you are making them worse along with yourself and everyone else around you. The primary enabler puts all their attention on the substance user, and all other relationships take a back seat. While each family member is blaming the substance user, the real problem lies in the breakdown of the family.

This a different memoir because it focuses not on the road to sobriety, but on what happens with your life now that you’ve done the thing that once seemed impossible. In this dark but incredibly comedic memoir, Smith tells all about her story and the road she finally took towards recovery from her perpetual numbing. She’s just someone who uses alcohol to muster up courage, and well, survive life. This is just how it has always been since her introduction to Southern Comfort when she was just fourteen. Especially not when you’re a crucial part of the cultural phenomenon called Star Wars. Things get even more interesting when you have to do all this while battling manic depression, addiction, and visiting all sorts of mental institutions as a result. I recommend this book for those who wish to learn the history of one of our country’s biggest struggles.

The pain you feel of Emmy keeping mom’s alcoholism a secret is overwhelming. Any family reading this article and who reads this book will probably think twice about waiting another day to intervene on their loved one’s addiction when the addicted person has children who are being affected. Every book listed so far is a good read for a family of alcoholics. People often forget that alcohol is a drug and, in our opinion, the worst and most devastating one. Alcoholics and their families often cringe and correct others if called an addict. It is as if the alcoholic and their family feels they are not as bad because they drink legal alcohol rather than consume illegal substances. The truth is, alcoholics are addicts, and when you look at them side by side, the similarities are identical in behavior, perception, and destruction to an addict. Any addict can read the book of Alcoholics Anonymous and find overwhelming similarities, as could an Alcoholic find overwhelming similarities in the book of Narcotics Anonymous. The drug of choice is not the problem, the substance user is the problem, and the substance that is used is their self-destructive solution of choice. Whether it is a disease, past trauma, or repetitive use that led to a physical dependency, the drug of choice is the least relevant.

Her first memoir is an inside look at her famous parents’ marriage and her own tumultuous love affairs (including her on-again, off-again relationship with Paul Simon). Most notably, it’s a brutally honest — and hilarious — reflection on the late writer’s path to sobriety. TheEmpathy Examsauthor’s stunning book juxtaposes her own relationship to addiction with stories of literary legends like Raymond Carver, and imbues it with rich cultural history. The result is a definitive treatment of the American recovery movement — a memoir in the subgenre like no other. More than just a memoir, this book is about the societal traps that lead us to drink, how drinking affects our brains and our bodies, and the psychology and neuroscience behind it all. If there is one book that has changed my life for the better, this is it. Although not a book written explicitly for addiction and recovery, the tools explained in this book can help anyone improve their general mood. I added it to the list as a reminder of what can happen to a relatively“normal”person when addiction takes hold of their lives. The book contains 12 chapters, each covering a different aspect of the recovery process.

• Julia Ross is a pioneer of nutrient therapy, and this book explains how basic nutrients can be used with great success to cure a number of mental health issues.
• Before we dive into sobriety books, let’s address how alcohol use disorder relates to mental health in the first place.
• We were inspired by the diverse experiences of our own community members.