Part recovery, part self-help, and all real, raw stories of waking up for the sake of yourself and your children, "Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore" follows one mother's journey from cocktail mama to sober mama. The loving mother of twins and a newborn, Brownell used alcohol to maintain a sense of her adult self and be more than 'just mummy'. It didn't take long before her drinking spiralled out of control, consuming her life and marriage, and she realized that she needed serious help. Both heart-wrenching and inspiring, this is Brownell's true-life story, from the first thirty days to the year mark. "Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore" is not a book that preaches or simply takes the reader through the Twelve Steps. It provides hope and motivation to get into a programme and balance your life as a mother and a recovering alcoholic.

Barb Rogersa book begins with the tragic death of her teenage son, Jon, and delves into the horror that was her life to that point. Due to a home life fraught with substance and emotional abuse, Barb found herself bottomed out more than once, and homeless along the way.
aWhen asked in early recovery if I knew any prayers, the one I could think of was the childas nighttime prayer, aNow I lay me down to sleep.a As I thought of it, I recalled the long nights when I simply wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.a
Barb learned most of her life lessons through pain, tragedy, and addiction. This is not a glamorous book, it is real and it is raw. It is not about survival of the fittest, but the weak, the hopeless, the helpless, the truly addicted, not only to substances, but to drama, anger, excuses, and justifications.
She describes how she got to her lowest point, just what it was, and how and why she finally reached out to a 12-step program for help. She shows the reader what itas really like to survive, to stay clean and sober, and find a way to the other side. Recovery was one of the most difficult things she ever did, but aworth every effort I put out.a
Barb Rogers would be the first to tell you sheas not special--sheas led a hard life, and she tells her story well and with humor--readers--addicts or not, but especially addicts--are going to find the kind of gritty inspiration, that if Barb can do it so can they, that will inspire life changes.

Working a 12-step program helps keep many recovering addicts and alcoholics sober, but not necessarily happy. They are often left with unresolved feelings of fear, anger, and grief about their lives.

"Addiction and Grief" looks at the emotional "bottom" of recovery. Just as one needs to hit bottom with drinking or using in order to begin recovery, eventually one will also hit an emotional bottom of fear, anger, and grief.

Recovery author Barb Rogers challenges readers in recovery to investigate the unresolved grief and loss in their lives; negative emotions that can lead back to using if not resolved.

She begins with a "Grief" list, that helps readers understand where, when, and how fear and anger took control of their lives; then she asks a set of questions to identify how these negative emotions continue to hold them back in recovery.

"Addiction and Grief" shows that authentic recovery is more than an attitude; it is based on emotional work that involves an honest appraisal of one's life, and the willingness to change.

Reader Views Annual Literary Awards 2010

The annual literary awards were established to honor writers who self-published or had their books published by a subsidy publisher, small press, University press, or independent book publisher geared for the North American reading audience.

"Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting ," written by Robert W. Boich, and published by iUniverse has been named the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Winner; as well as the 2010 Reviewers Choice Award for the Best Regional Book of the Year.

Making a resolution to address an alcohol or substance abuse issue is only the beginning. The real work begins when the alcoholic or addict acknowledges that something has to be done. In "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting " author Robert Boich details his battle with substance abuse and his decision to lead a sober lifestyle. He realized if he didn t change his life, he would be incarcerated or die all alone.

In this compelling, personal narrative, Boich shares his personal struggles and insights encountered during his first six months of recovery. A counselor once told him, An addict only has to change one thing: everything. "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting " describes the many changes Boich made in his life. More than just eliminating certain people and places from a daily routine, he illustrates how a successful recovery requires a brand-new approach in dealing with life.

Blending personal thoughts with helpful information, "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting " discusses the ideas and tools used in an addict s early recovery. It shows that sobriety is much more than mere abstinence and that alcohol and drug use is a sign of deep personal problems that only true sobriety can address.

The medicalisation of alcohol use has become a prominent discourse that guides policy makers and impacts public perceptions of alcohol and drinking. This book maps the historical and cultural dimensions of the phenomenon. Emphasising medical attitudes and theories regarding alcohol and the changing perception of alcohol consumption in psychiatry and mental health, it explores the shift from the use of alcohol in clinical treatment and as part of dietary regimens to the emergence of alcoholism as a disease category that requires medical intervention and is considered a threat to public health. -- .

Beloved former ABC 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas reveals her alcohol addiction and anxiety disorder in a shockingly honest and emotional memoir. From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. Now, in Between Breaths, Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety--which began suddenly at the age of six when her father served in Vietnam--and how she dealt with this anxiety as she came of age, eventually turning to alcohol for a release from her painful reality. The now-A&E Network reporter reveals how she found herself living in denial about the extent of her addiction, and how she kept her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who could never find the right balance between a career and parenting. Honest and hopeful, Between Breaths is an inspiring read. Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award in the First Book category Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

A practical guide that picks up where "rehab" leaves off, and where the real work of recovery from substance abuse begins. Many of those who suffer the consequences of substance (along with their loved ones) may find relief when the substance abuser agrees to enter rehab or treatment. Too many, however, have also known the pain and disappointment that comes later, with relapse. This book provides a practical guide for both the newly sober and their loved ones for what they can do collaboratively to ensure that what begins with rehab translates into long-term recovery and a more satisfying life-style for all.

Rich with insight and awareness, Recovery explores the secrets, fears, hopes and issues that confront adult children of alcoholics. Authors and widely respected therapists and ACOA workshop leaders Herbert Gravitz and Julie Bowden detail in a clear question-and-answer format the challenges of control and inadequacy that ACOAs face as they struggle for recovery and understanding, stage-by-stage: Survival

* Emergent Awareness
* Core Issues
* Transformations
* Integration
* Genesis.

If you feel troubled by your post, Recovery will start you on the path of self-awareness, as it explores the searching questions adult children of alcoholics seek to hove answered:

* How con I overcome my need for control?
* Do all ACOAs ploy the some kind of roles in the family?
* How do I overcome my fear of intimacy?
* What is all-or-none functioning?
* How can ACOAs maintain self-confidence and awareness after recovery?
* How do ACOAs handle the family after understanding its influence?
* And many other important questions about your post, family and feelings.

Written with warmth, joy and real understanding, Recovery will inspire you to meet the challenges of the post and overcome the obstacles to your happiness.

An interesting and socially-important psychological review of the criminal archetype, that views the phenomenon of criminalized drug addiction both from the inside, as well as from the academic perspective. Offers a unique, fascinating and heartfelt glimpse into the world of criminalized drug addicts, revealing both the self-indulgence and the outgoing humanity of the puer and trickster images that is so prevalent in the social order of this shadowed underworld. Dr John Smethers takes us on a deeply personal journey, looking at the root causes and effects of a sub-culture populated by society's social outcasts. Drug addicts, alcoholics and petty criminals are studied from the unique perspective of someone who has not only 'been there', but one who has also successfully struggled against the social and psychological forces that have lead so many of our young men into hopelessness and despair. This is a keen and insightful look into a little-known underworld which we all, in one way or another, have helped to create.

The instant New York Times bestseller | A Washington Post Notable Book | One of NPR's Best Books of the Year "Expert storytelling . . . [Pollan] masterfully elevates a series of big questions about drugs, plants and humans that are likely to leave readers thinking in new ways." -New York Times Book Review From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants-and the equally powerful taboos. Of all the things humans rely on plants for-sustenance, beauty, medicine, fragrance, flavor, fiber-surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: People around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. But we do not usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So, then, what is a "drug"? And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In This Is Your Mind on Plants, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs-opium, caffeine, and mescaline-and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs while consuming (or, in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and fraught feelings? In this unique blend of history, science, and memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively-as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that is one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay published almost twenty-five years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world.

This book is about gym culture, the pursuit of fit, muscular bodies and the use of drugs as a means to get there. Building on the international research literature and in-depth interviews with men who have experience of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs), the book explores the fascination with muscles, motivations for using drugs to enhance them, assessments of risks, and experience of side effects. The book examines what the altered body does to the men's identity, self-image and relationships with peers and partners. Taking an evolutionary psychological approach, it also investigates the biological and psychological foundations of the fascination with the muscular body and discusses the notion of precarious manhood. Building on these analyses the book considers the political and regulatory initiatives in place to prevent the use of IPEDs and assesses those strategies' potential to reach their aims. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the issue of drugs in sport, the ethics of sport, sociology of sport, sociology of the body, masculinity or public health.

"The sky was painfully big, but our worlds were small, our lives little. So when we found each other in the muddle of it all, that feeling of belonging was addictive." Mal, Ama, Lewis and Oskar have grown up together; hedonistically charging through life - and any house party going - in rural Devon. They're railing against the stories that have been written for them as they stand at the precipice of adulthood. But all the space can be suffocating, and it's tough sometimes - feeling so low in a place so beautiful. The powerful poetics of Malaika Kegode and soaring music of Bristol band Jakabol combine in this autobiographical gig-theatre show directed by Jenny Davies. Genre-defying and emotional, Outlier explores the impact of isolation, addiction and friendship on young people in the often-forgotten places.