This book reminds us that Tself-help' is a myth; only through Christ can a person experience freedom and deliverance.S--Dr. Jeff Moore, senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Altus, Okla. (Christian)

In 1970, at age 13, Josh Lowenthal used heroin for the first time and began an addiction that would be with him for his whole short life. One-Way Ticket follows Josh on his journey from fleeing early rehab programs in the Northeast as a boy to living on the streets of San Francisco, shoplifting and driving a taxicab to support his habit as a young adult. He entered a downward spiral known to be typical for long-term addicts, was in and out of rehab and jail, by turns hopeful and hopeless about his disease.In this memoir, Rita Lowenthal recreates her son's life, and shows how the lives of his family members and friends were permanently altered by his addiction. It was written in the hopes that the parents of addicts will not feel guilty about their children's choices and will instead develop a greater social perspective about their children's plight.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More people than ever before see themselves as addicted to, or recovering from, addiction, whether it be alcohol or drugs, prescription meds, sex, gambling, porn, or the internet. But despite the unprecedented attention, our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas, addiction as a crime or as brain disease, and in equally outdated treatment. Challenging both the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and the notion of a simple "addictive personality," The New York Times Bestseller, Unbroken Brain, offers a radical and groundbreaking new perspective, arguing that addictions are learning disorders and shows how seeing the condition this way can untangle our current debates over treatment, prevention and policy. Like autistic traits, addictive behaviors fall on a spectrum -- and they can be a normal response to an extreme situation. By illustrating what addiction is, and is not, the book illustrates how timing, history, family, peers, culture and chemicals come together to create both illness and recovery- and why there is no "addictive personality" or single treatment that works for all. Combining Maia Szalavitz's personal story with a distillation of more than 25 years of science and research,Unbroken Brain provides a paradigm-shifting approach to thinking about addiction. Her writings on radical addiction therapies have been featured in The Washington Post, Vice Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, in addition to multiple other publications. She has been interviewed about her book on many radio shows including Fresh Air with Terry Gross and The Brian Lehrer show.

In this easy-to-read revised and expanded edition of Exit the Maze, Dr. Donna Marks makes the revolutionary claim that there is only one addiction with many faces, and the key to overcoming addiction is self-love. Millions of lives are lost to addiction every year, causing more direct and indirect deaths than any other illness. In a world where many things are uncertain, we do know this: There are many kinds of addiction, and in spite of treatment and everything else we’re doing, addiction is only increasing. Dr. Donna Marks, a renowned psychotherapist, addictions counselor, and teacher of A Course in Miracles for more than thirty years, merges her professional experience and her own personal history of substance dependency to offer a single revolutionary solution to all addictions in this expanded and revised edition of Exit the Maze. No matter what someone is addicted to—alcohol, prescription or illegal drugs, smoking, working, gambling, and so forth—loving yourself is the key to recovery. This doesn’t mean the road is easy or a few acts of self-care will do the trick; the journey to true self-love includes delving deep into your past trauma to understand where your addiction began, addressing those fear-based traumas with compassion and forgiveness, exchanging bad habits with beneficial ones, and staying committed to the recovery process. Allow love to guide you through the maze of addiction and back to living your best life.

A personal, powerful and shocking testimony of life as a heroin addict in Brooklyn in the 1970s and ‘80s. In this gritty, soul-bearing and honest account, Ronn Costabile takes you into a world of addiction and despair. Ronn tells his story with gripping detail and emotion-jerking reality. There is hope, however, for everyone who believes. After 25 years battling a paralyzing heroin and cocaine addiction, state prison time, and 15 years of organized crime, Ronn experienced a powerful conversion at the hand of God in 1987 while incarcerated. As his life was slowly being restored, he connected with Brooklyn Teen Challenge, a faith-based Drug Rehabilitation Center, where he then began as a volunteer in 1990. Six years later he became intake coordinator and soon afterwards director of the Brooklyn Men’s program.

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

All across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care systems are struggling to cope with substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders. Substance misuse and substance use disorders have devastating effects, disrupt the future plans of too many young people, and all too often, end lives prematurely and tragically. Substance misuse is a major public health challenge and a priority for our nation to address. The effects of substance use are cumulative and costly for our society, placing burdens on workplaces, the health care system, families, states, and communities. The Report discusses opportunities to bring substance use disorder treatment and mainstream health care systems into alignment so that they can address a person's overall health, rather than a substance misuse or a physical health condition alone or in isolation. It also provides suggestions and recommendations for action that everyone-individuals, families, community leaders, law enforcement, health care professionals, policymakers, and researchers-can take to prevent substance misuse and reduce its consequences.