Between alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, pornography, gambling, and eating disorders, fully 25% of the population of the United States is addicted to something. Those addictions are taking a massive physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial toll on individuals, families, and communities. The problem can feel insurmountable. But there is a solution, at once ancient and supported by the latest in neuroscientific research. With an honest assessment of the facts, yet always reaching out toward hopeful solutions, counselors Chip Dodd and Stephen James explain what addiction really is, how it works, and why it is so damaging to our hearts, souls, minds, and relationships. They then take us beyond mere coping techniques that allow us to function to the real solution--restoring our broken relationship with our Creator so that we can rediscover how to live fully the way we were created to live. Each chapter includes the personal story of a recovering addict, told from the addict's point of view. The authors also include a list of books, organizations, workshops, and treatment centers people can turn to for help along the road to lasting recovery.

A premiere addiction industry trailblazer and the "father of dual diagnosis" shares the life-changing approach to end any addiction, which has helped tens of thousands of people nationwide.

If you love someone with alcoholism or any other addiction, you may be looking anywhere you can for hope. If so, this book is for you. It presents the science of addiction in terms that are easy to understand, but also focuses heavily on practical concepts and techniques that you can start using right away. It answers many of the questions that come with loving someone who has an addiction, such as: What can I do to help? Why can't they just stop? Where can I find hope? What is involved in recovery? What should I expect if my loved one goes to treatment? What practical skills can I learn to deal with addiction? How can I find peace and even happiness in the midst of all this? All these questions and more are addressed to help you navigate the difficulties of being a family member to someone with addiction. This book can help you gain the knowledge and attitude you need and find realistic hope as you do. The author, Casey, is a clinical social worker and chemical dependency counselor who has lived with and around addiction for all his life. He is now a therapist specializing in family counseling for addiction. In this book, he shares the knowledge gained from conducting hundreds of family workshops and helping thousands of family members, and also weaves in his own narrative of recovery both as an individual and a family member.

Addictive behaviors beg for an informed explanation to guide patients, families, students, and clinicians through the maddening and often incomprehensible nature of the addictions. Too often addiction is perceived to be merely a moral weakness or purely a brain disease, ignoring the deep personal pain that can permeate the lives of the addicted. But taking an honest look at the underlying emotional or mental issues can more clearly illuminate not only the causes of the addiction, but also the cure. Doctors Edward J. Khantzian and Mark J. Albanese, leading researchers in the field of addiction, see addictions primarily as a kind of self medication—a self medication that can temporarily soothe anxiety or pain, but that ultimately wreaks havoc on the lives and health of both the addicted and their loved ones. With practical advice, compelling case studies, and nuanced theory drawn from their years in clinical practice, Doctors Khantzian and Albanese look at the core reasons behind many addictions and provide a pathway to hope. Understanding Addiction as Self Medication looks at a range of addictions, including alcohol and substance abuse, and clearly explains how to understand other addictive behaviors through the lens of the Self Medication Hypothesis. This book provides a much-needed guide to both understanding addictions and working towards healing.

“A mind-blowing tour de force that unwraps the myriad objects of addiction that surround us...Intelligent, incisive, and sometimes grimly entertaining.” —Rod Phillips, author of Alcohol: A History “A fascinating history of corporate America’s efforts to shape our habits and desires.” —Vox We live in an age of addiction, from compulsive gaming and shopping to binge eating and opioid abuse. Sugar can be as habit-forming as cocaine, researchers tell us, and social media apps are deliberately hooking our kids. But what can we do to resist temptations that insidiously rewire our brains? A renowned expert on addiction, David Courtwright reveals how global enterprises have both created and catered to our addictions. The Age of Addiction chronicles the triumph of what he calls “limbic capitalism,” the growing network of competitive businesses targeting the brain pathways responsible for feeling, motivation, and long-term memory. “Compulsively readable...In crisp and playful prose and with plenty of needed humor, Courtwright has written a fascinating history of what we like and why we like it, from the first taste of beer in the ancient Middle East to opioids in West Virginia.” —American Conservative “A sweeping, ambitious account of the evolution of addiction...This bold, thought-provoking synthesis will appeal to fans of ‘big history’ in the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel.” —Publishers Weekly

The founder of Shades of Hope Treatment Center offers real-life solutions and a step-by-step program that teaches you how to stop the never-ending cycle of diets, binges, negative behaviors, and broken promises that come with food addiction. Includes a Foreword by Ashley Judd There are millions of people who bounce from one diet to another with no understanding of the link between emotional eating (compulsive overeating) and not being able to keep off the weight. Author Tennie McCarty was herself an overeater, food addict, and bulimic. Tennie believes that food addiction is a physical and mental problem with a spiritual solution. Tennie confronted her addictions to unhealthy relationships, food, work, and was finally able to find the one thing we all ultimately crave—serenity. In her work with clients, Tennie helps them uncover why they yo-yo diet, why they compromise their health with a diseased relationship to food, why their uncontrollable need for control has left them feeling broken, and what it is about their past or present that leads them to seek comfort in the oscillating consumption and restriction of food. As Ashley Judd, a former patient says, “Because if there was hope for Tennie McCarty, there was hope for me.”

Companionship for the lifelong journey of recovery In Addiction and Recovery: A Spiritual Pilgrimage, Martha Postlethwaite--pastor and a person in recovery--reflects on her pilgrimage of healing through valleys of despair and vistas of resurrection. Addiction and Recovery is not just Postlethwaite's story, though. She also draws on the wisdom of pilgrims who have walked other paths to explore themes such as surrender, truth telling, shame, powerlessness, grace, forgiveness, and resurrection. Together, these chronicles bring hope to people who struggle with the disease of addiction and to those who love them. Each chapter ends with questions to reflect on with conversation partners or in a journal, and a spiritual practice. The spiritual practices are related to the chapter themes and serve as samplers, but they can be woven into the reader's own pilgrimage. Readers will recognize themselves in these stories and reflections, learn that they are not alone, and find reasons to hope as they make their own pilgrimage.