'A masterclass in understanding' ANNIE GRACE, author of This Naked Mind Ten questions to ask yourself, right now: * Do you have a sense that something is wrong, but you don't know what it is? * Do you have a feeling that you are hollow inside, that you are empty or have a void within? * Do you react badly to rejection? * Do you often feel sad, unhappy or down for no obvious reason? * Would you describe yourself as highly sensitive? * Do you have problems with relationships and intimacy? * Do you engage in addictive behaviour - alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, food, sex, work, exercise? * Do you have low self-esteem or self-worth - are you not 'good enough'? * Do you have a sense of being numb to your feelings? * Do you rarely experience true joy and happiness? If you have answered 'yes' to most of these questions, there is a strong chance you have experienced emotional neglect or trauma as a child. An emotionally neglected child may struggle to form strong and secure attachments as an adult. They may feel hollow or empty, worthless (or overly important), judge themselves harshly and struggle with addictive tendencies - drinking, eating or exercising too much, for example. If this describes you, Heal Your Inner Child will change your life and give you back the love, compassion and authenticity you needed as a child, and deserve as an adult. Fomer heavy drinker turned sobriety coach Simon Chapple is - like you - a survivor of childhood trauma. His unique brand of straight-talking, practical yet reflective and relatable advice has helped thousands of people quit drinking, and he can help you now to move on from childhood emotional neglect to a place of happiness free from past trauma. How to Heal Your Inner Child is a stepped and safe approach to confronting your past, with space for reflective and supportive strategies that will help you to foster self-compassion and break free from the destructive behaviours that have blighted your life. Clinically endorsed and verified by a psychotherapist, this deeply personal, unflinchingly honest exploration is designed to unlock your own epiphany and support you as you journey to a happier, less troubled and more authentic self.

The candid autobiography of all-star pitcher "Sudden Sam" McDowell, whose alcohol-fueled life quickly and famously spiraled out of control, and his ultimate redemption as a counselor for other athletes suffering from addiction. Sam McDowell seemed to have it all. Considered by many to be the next Sandy Koufax when he signed with the Cleveland Indians, Sam boasted one of the fastest arms in major league baseball. But on the inside, he was playing in an alcoholic fog, beset by addiction, depression, narcissism, and thoughts of suicide. The Saga of Sudden Sam: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Sam McDowell is the fascinating autobiography of the six-time American League all-star pitcher and self-admitted "worst drunk in baseball." Sam holds nothing back, sharing the pressures he felt as a young baseball phenom, his frustrations over a lack of coaching to help develop his talent, the pitfalls of his dangerous alcoholic lifestyle, and his attempted suicide. When "Sudden Sam" finally hit rock bottom, certain he had been defeated by alcoholism, he instead found hope, rehabilitation, and sobriety. After extensive education and training, he emerged as the first successful counselor in major league baseball. Sam helped to turn around the lives of players who, just like him, had fallen into the abyss of addiction or faced psychological and emotional problems that were destroying their careers. With details of his own severe battles with depression and addiction told alongside the struggles of players who came to him for help, The Saga of Sudden Sam offers special insight into the longstanding addiction issues that plague Major League Baseball. It also provides understanding and hope to anyone struggling with addiction and shows that recovery is attainable.

Be happier, healthier and more productive by taking a break from booze! An illustrated day-by-day guide packed with inspiration and practical help, The 28 Day Alcohol-Free Challenge is the only book you need to reset your drinking habits and discover a hangover-free world of quality time to achieve your goals. Drawing on their own experiences of ditching the drink, and bringing together the collective experience of the thousands of people they have helped, Andy and Ruari bring you unparalleled insight into how you can make your break from alcohol an empowering, life-changing experience.

Andy Ramage and Ruari Fairbairns started their website One Year No Beer to connect with like-minded people who no longer wanted to deal with the adverse effects of drinking alcohol. In The 28 Day Alcohol-Free Challenge Andy and Ruari share their extensive experience of going alcohol free, including having a great time at parties, resisting appeals from friends to 'just have the one', and, most importantly, how to make the most of the health benefits of going sober.

A practical and compassionate approach for helping your loved one change. If you have a loved one who is struggling with alcohol or other drugs, you may have feelings of frustration, anger, fear, or sadness. You may also feel powerless and unsure of how to help them, and how best to support them over time. You don't have to try a "tough love" approach or wait for your loved one to "hit rock bottom" before taking action. You can be a force for positive change in your loved one's life. This compassionate guide will show you how. From the authors of Beyond Addiction, this healing and supportive workbook offers practical, evidence-based skills to help you address substance use or other compulsive behaviors with your loved one in a productive way--without creating conflict. You'll also gain a greater understanding for their struggle, and learn essential strategies for improving communication and coping with your own feelings. Whether your loved one seems reluctant to change, or is actively seeking support, this workbook will give you the tools needed to help them on their journey. Using the authors' Invitation to Change approach, you'll discover: How to understand substance-using behaviors from a new perspective How to approach the problem without judgment How to open lines of communication How to set respectful limits How to live with pain and still stay connected How compassion is key to helping your loved one--and you!

Find Boundaries and Peace from Codependent Behaviors"This book is bound to become a codependence classic. It should be required reading for all who seek to create healthy, balanced relationships." -Claudia Black, PhD. Free yourself from codependency and reclaim your sanity, peace, and inner strength with this codependency book by Karen Casey, the bestselling author of Each Day a New Beginning. Learn how to value your own opinion over those of others. Codependency books are perfect for those of us who live as if what other people think matters more than what we think. This thinking leads to constantly trying to please or even to change others. Codependent behaviors can have negative effects on us and those around us, even leading to a dysfunctional family. It can be difficult to say no to those we love. A codependency book on improving your life through boundaries and peace. Karen Casey, bestselling author of Let Go Now and Each Day a New Beginning, has had her own experience with codependent behavior, and she is here to share what she has learned along the way. Through her own stories and the stories of those she has met through Al Anon meetings and elsewhere, she shows you how to detach from unhealthy codependency, create more positive relationships and, ultimately, lead a less stressful life. Inside, you'll learn how to: Recognize and acknowledge your own attachments and codependency Set boundaries, find peace, and engage in healthy detachment Nurture positive relationships with the people in your life-both new and old If you liked codependency books such as The Language of Letting Go, Facing Codependence, or The Codependency Recovery Plan, you'll love Codependence and the Power of Detachment.

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. -- .

As a psychiatrist-in-training fresh from medical school, Carl Erik Fisher came face to face with his own addiction crisis, one that nearly cost him everything. Here, he investigates the history of this age-old condition. Humans have struggled to define, treat, and control addictive behaviour for most of recorded history, including well before the advent of modern science and medicine. The Urge is a rich, sweeping history that probes not only medicine and science but also literature, religion, philosophy, and sociology, illuminating the extent to which the story of addiction has persistently reflected broader questions of what it means to be human and care for one another. Fisher introduces us to the people who have endeavoured to address this complex condition through the ages: physicians and politicians, activists and artists, researchers and writers, and of course the legions of people who have struggled with their own addictions. He also examines the treatments and strategies that have produced hope and relief. The Urge is at once an eye-opening history of ideas, a riveting personal story of addiction and recovery, and a clinician's urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced, and compassionate view of one of society's most intractable challenges.

With an easy three-step plan, Mindful Drinking: How To Break Up With Alcohol is here to help the 64% of Brits who want to drink less without giving up completely. Discover how to cultivate a new, healthy and more mindful relationship with alcohol. Journalist Rosamund Dean combines scientific expertise with practical advice in a game-changing three step guide: The Problem, The Incentive, and The Plan. By following this guide you will learn the benefits of drinking less - drinking less will improve your mood, your skin, your sex-drive, your bank balance and your body as well as reduce stress and anxiety. Whether you are sober-curious, or just want to cut down - Mindful Drinking: How To Break Up With Alcohol shows not only why you should, but also how you can, in a way that will change your life forever. What readers have been saying about Mindful Drinking: How to Break Up With Alcohol: 'Brilliant book; realistic and creating real positive change' 'Would highly recommend for anyone who is concerned about the amount they drink, but doesn't want to completely stop.' 'A brilliantly straightforward and realistic approach to cutting down sensibly.' 'Really broke a cycle for me of just drinking every weekend.'

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'The story of a band that's always on the brink: of stardom, of madness, of brilliance, of disgrace' Miranda Sawyer, Observer 'You begin to wonder why more biographies aren't tackled with such invention' Record Collector 'This book is a rarity' Mark Lanegan 'One of the finest music books in aeons' Kevin Barry From the mountains of Algeria to the squats of South London via sectarian Northern Ireland, Ten Thousand Apologies is the sordid and thrilling story of the country's most notorious cult band, Fat White Family. Loved and loathed in equal measure since their formation in 2011, the relentlessly provocative, stunningly dysfunctional "drug band with a rock problem" have dedicated themselves to constant chaos and total creative freedom at all costs. Like a tragicomic penny dreadful dreamed up by a mutant hybrid of Jean Genet, the Dadaists and Mark E. Smith, the Fat Whites' story is a frequently jaw-dropping epic of creative insurrection, narcotic excess, mental illness, wanderlust, self-sabotage, fractured masculinity, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute art. Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and radiant jihad - a depraved, romantic and furious gesture of refusal to a sanitised era.

Recovery from addiction is often compared to a journey where you meet new people; rejuvenate your mind, body, and spirit; and learn new things about yourself that give you hope for the future. But like all journeys, the recovery path also has pitfalls that can jeopardize your sobriety. With his popular book 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery, Allen Berger has shown many people how to confront self-defeating thoughts and behaviors that can sabotage their sobriety. In this sequel, Allen gives you the tools you need to work through twelve pitfalls that you are likely to encounter on your path to long-term recovery. Whether you are facing relapse, learning to overcome complacency, or working to take responsibility for your feelings and actions, this book will equip you to overcome some of the most common relapse hazards as you make your trek along "the road of happy destiny.

Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life 'Brilliant' - Stella Duffy Millions of people worry that drinking is affecting their health, yet are unwilling to seek change because of the misery and stigma associated with alcoholism and recovery. They fear drinking less will be boring, difficult and involve deprivation, and significant lifestyle changes. This Naked Mind offers a new solution. Packed with surprising insight into the reasons we drink, it will open your eyes to the startling role of alcohol in our culture. Annie Grace brilliantly weaves psychological, neurological, cultural, social and industry factors with her extraordinarily candid journey resulting in a must read for anyone who drinks. This book, without scare tactics, pain or rules, gives you freedom from alcohol. By addressing causes rather than symptoms it is a permanent solution rather than lifetime struggle. It removes the psychological dependence allowing you to easily drink less (or stop drinking). Annie's clarity, humor and unique ability to blend original research with riveting storytelling ensures you will thoroughly enjoy the process. In a world defined by 'never enough' Annie takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of alcohol and specifically the connection between alcohol and pleasure. She dispels the cultural myth that alcohol is a vital part of life and demonstrates how regaining control over alcohol is not only essential to personal happiness and fulfilment but also to ending the heartache experienced by millions as a result of second-hand drinking. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to the life you have been waiting for.

'I'm the binge-drinking health reporter. During the week, I write about Australia's booze-soaked culture. At the weekends, I write myself off.' Booze had dominated Jill Stark's social life ever since she had her first sip of beer, at 13. She thought nothing could curb her love of big nights. And then came the hangover that changed everything. In the shadow of her 35th year, Jill made a decision: she would give up alcohol. But what would it mean to stop drinking in a world awash with booze? This lively memoir charts Jill's tumultuous year on the wagon, as she copes with the stress of the newsroom sober, tackles the dating scene on soda water, learns to watch the footy minus beer, and deals with censure from friends and colleagues, who tell her that a year without booze is 'a year with no mates'. In re-examining her habits, Jill also explores Australia's love affair with alcohol, meeting alcopop-swigging teens who drink to fit in, beer-swilling blokes in a sporting culture backed by booze, and marketing bigwigs blamed for turning binge drinking into a way of life. And she tracks the history of this national obsession: from the idea that Australia's new colonies were drowning in drink to the Anzac ethos that a beer builds mateship, and from the six o'clock swill that encouraged bingeing to the tangled weave of advertising, social pressure, and tradition that confronts drinkers today. Will Jill make it through the year without booze? And if she does, will she go back to her old habits, or has she called last drinks? This is a funny, moving, and insightful exploration of why we drink, how we got here, and what happens when we turn off the tap.

From highflying Playboy editor to pathetic homeless alcoholic addict, Dystopia charts James Siddall's Icarian fall from grace. It's the sobering tell-all tale of a young, successful, hubristic, hard-drinking journalist who in his meltdown becomes the scourge of pubs and shebeens around the country. Regularly found comatose, collapsed in a puddle of his own excesses, Siddall became a frequent patient in lock-down psychiatric wards. He finally confronted himself after being ordered by court to two years in rehab. Dystopia punches hard in the solar plexus and in a world awash with so-called misery memoirs and vic-lit (victim literature) provides a new take on addiction. But far from being a mere account of sordidness and degradation - or "war story" - it also peels away the misconceptions about this disease. Dystopia delves deeply into the myths and misinformation surrounding addiction, a condition that's been dubbed "the most democratic and painful of all diseases." Above all Dystopia is a story of triumph where a broken man finds his way home to become a functioning human being again and a working journalist. Written by the brilliant and award-winning James Siddall, this is the book James Frey could have produced if he told the whole truth.

Had enough of repeatedly giving up booze only to keep returning to the old cycles? Want to end the anguish and give yourself the chance to be the best you can? Do you know that group healing won't work with you? Beat alcohol on your own is a new approach to combating drinking made even more necessary, right now, from its increase due to greater home working. The method ensures the reader's drinking will reduce towards zero in a personalised, safe, controlled way. Central is the strategy of Planned Relapses, which give a sturdy staff on which to lean as overall drinking is managed downwards through the following of three simple Oaken Rules. The realpolitik of the difficulties in stopping drinking is faced square on as every scenario where temptation may arise along the path is mitigated by the deployment of an arsenal of tactical interventions. Ultimately the goal - Mundus in claritate! - is attained.

A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR. An undercover investigation into the synthetic-drug epidemic. A new group of chemicals is radically transforming the recreational-drug landscape. Known as novel psychoactive substances (NPS), they range from so-called 'legal highs' like Spice, to synthetic opioids - most famously, the deadly fentanyl. Designed to replicate the effects of established drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, and heroin, NPS are synthesised in laboratories. They are cheap to produce and easy to transport. They are also extremely potent and often deadly. Originally developed for medicinal purposes, and then hijacked by rogue chemists, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, these chemicals' effects can be impossible to predict. What we do know is that they have triggered the biggest drug epidemic that America has ever seen, and which is now spreading internationally. In Fentanyl, Inc., award-winning journalist Ben Westhoff goes undercover to investigate the shadowy world of synthetic drugs - becoming, in the process, the first journalist to infiltrate a Chinese fentanyl lab. He tracks down the drug baron in New Zealand who unintentionally helped to start the synthetic-drug revolution; prowls St. Louis streets with a former fentanyl dealer to understand how the epidemic started; and chronicles the lives of addicts and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug-awareness organisers in the US and Europe. Fentanyl, Inc. is essential reading on a global calamity we are only just beginning to understand.

A POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION SHORTLISTED FOR THE FELIX DENNIS PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2018 I could not be held responsible for desire he could not be held at all Tracking the joys and pains of the path through addiction, and wrestling with desire, inheritance and faith, Calling a Wolf a Wolf is the darkly sumptuous debut from award-winning poet Kaveh Akbar. These are powerful, intimate poems of thirst: for alcohol, for other bodies, for knowledge and for life. 'The struggle from late youth on, with and without God, agony, narcotics and love, is a torment rarely recorded with such sustained eloquence and passion as you will find in this collection' FANNY HOWE 'Compelling . . . strange . . . always beautiful' ROXANE GAY, AUTHOR OF BAD FEMINIST AND HUNGER 'Truly brilliant' JOHN GREEN, AUTHOR OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS 'A breathtaking addition to the canon of addiction literature' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)

In Drinking Up the Revolution, James Wilt shows us why alcohol policy should be at the heart of any socialist movement. Many people are drinking more now than ever before, as already massive multinationals are consolidating and new online delivery services are booming in an increasingly deregulated market. At the same time, public health experts are sounding the alarm about the catastrophic health and social impacts of rising alcohol use, with over three million people dying ever year due to alcohol-related harms. Exposing the links between the alcohol industry and capitalism, colonialism and environmental destruction, Wilt demonstrates the failure of both prohibition and deregulation, and instead focuses on those who profit from alcohol's sale and downplay its impacts: producers, retailers, and governments. Rejecting both the alcohol industry's moralizing against individual "problem drinkers" and the sober politics of "straight-edge" and wellness lifestyle trends, Drinking Up the Revolution is not another call for prohibition or more governmental control, but is instead a cry to take back alcohol for the people, and make it safe and enjoyable for all those who want to use it.

Journalist Jenny Valentish takes a gendered look at drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Mining the expertise of 35 leading researchers, clinicians and psychiatrists, she explores the early predictors of addictive behaviour, such as trauma, temperament and impulsivity.

Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with problematic substance use. From her childhood in suburban Slough to her chaotic formative years in the London music scene, we follow her journey to Australia, where she experiences firsthand treatment facilities and AA groups, and reflects whether or not they are meeting the needs of women.

Woman of Substances is an insightful, rigorous and brutally honest read. In Australia it was nominated for a prestigious Walkley Book Award.

'Employing expert interviews and research, each rich personal episode is contextualised within the under-examined issue of women's substance abuse. Detailed, insightful and told with a feature writer's narrative flair' Bookseller and Publisher.

'Engages readers with storytelling while presenting scientific findings and theories in a way that is accessible to a broad audience' Broadsheet.

'Part monograph, part memoir, part Ginsbergian howl of outrage at a culture in which gender bias is a tenet. It is a work of compellingly articulate anger' The Australian.

'In straightforward, lively prose she relates even her darkest moments without self-pity or aggrandisement, and often with a streak of gallows humour, leading to more laugh-out-loud lines than you might expect' The Saturday Paper.

'We need books like this, and writers like Valentish, to give voice to our frustrations and concerns, to help legitimise and mobilise' Kill Your Darlings.

'Valentish's passion lies in exploring the underlying causes and their effects and, in the most female of ways, offering companionship and reassurance for her readers' The Monthly.

'Doesn't mince her words' Sydney Morning Herald.