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.

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.

In 2007, the Mitchell Report shocked traditionalists who were appalled that drugs had corrupted the "pure" game of baseball. Nathan Corzine rescues the story of baseball's relationship with drugs from the sepia-toned tyranny of such myths. In Team Chemistry , he reveals a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from the day the first pitch was thrown. Indeed, throughout the game's history, stars and scrubs alike partook of a pharmacopeia that helped them stay on the field and cope off of it: In 1889, Pud Galvin tried a testosterone-derived "elixir" to help him pile up some of his 646 complete games. Sandy Koufax needed Codeine and an anti-inflammatory used on horses to pitch through his late-career elbow woes. Players returning from World War II mainstreamed the use of the amphetamines they had used as servicemen. Vida Blue invited teammates to cocaine parties, Tim Raines used it to stay awake on the bench, and Will McEnaney snorted it between innings. Corzine also ventures outside the lines to show how authorities handled--or failed to handle--drug and alcohol problems, and how those problems both shaped and scarred the game. The result is an eye-opening look at what baseball's relationship with substances legal and otherwise tells us about culture, society, and masculinity in America.

In the 1980's, Janet Woititz broke new ground in our understanding of what it is to be an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. In this updated edition of her bestseller she re-examines the movement and its inclusion of Adult Children from various dysfunctional family backgrounds who share the same characteristics. After decades of working with ACoAs she shares the recovery hints that she has found to work. Read Adult Children of Alcoholics to see where the journey began and for ideas on where to go from here.

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.'

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.

'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.

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.

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.