Denial is a natural process, a form of self-protection. It is a wall built layer by layer to shelter us from pain and frightful truths. It is a psychological defense that is as normal as flinching. Within the Wall of Denial shows how this valuable, instinctive reaction can become rigid and maladaptive. Retreat behind its protection can isolate people in their pain, alienate those around them, and facilitate the development of diseases, from addiction to heart disease. It precludes seeking professional help and thus blocks early diagnosis and treatment. It contributes to treatment failure and sets up the newly recovering addict to relapse. Those who suffer from such disorders retreat behind their wall of denial, and thus often seem unaware of the chaos around them. They behave as if there is no problem; they minimize it, make excuses, or just seem unwilling or unable to take effective action. The people who love and depend on them begin to need protection; they build walls of their own. Their "enabling" or "co-dependent" behavior is also addressed in this book. Kearney presents a fresh perspective on the nature and function of denial. He describes each layer in the wall of denial, including denial of fact, implications, change, and finally denial of feelings, in language so remarkably clear that the reader can quickly realize what it is like to be on either side. He then offers an innovative approach for working with people caught in denial that bridges the contrasting techniques of confrontation and support. Empathic and tough, Kearney demonstrates how to gain clients' trust so that the wall of denial can be dismantled layer by layer.

A central observation of the social sciences has been that the modern age is one of constant change. This change has resulted in the emergence of new moral and ethical claims and understandings, which author Brian M. Lowe refers to as "moral vocabularies." Lowe skillfully seeks to explain conditions under which certain moral vocabularies are more likely to gain acceptance in the wider host society. By focusing on the animal rights and tobacco control movements, this absorbing work explores the process of moralization and the fragmentary nature of the emergence of new forms of moral and ethical meanings within the wider host society. Emerging Moral Vocabularies challenges the broad assertion that Western post-industrial societies are inevitably becoming more individualistic and self-centered, and instead encourages scholars to examine emerging forms of moral and ethical meanings, which create new moral boundaries. Book jacket.

Her Choice to Heal guides women through post-abortion healing by sharing personal stories and offering practical tools, compassionate support, and hope in Christ.

For readers of Atul Gawande and Paul Kalanithi, a palliative care doctor's breathtaking stories from 30 years spent caring for the dying. Modern medical technology is allowing us to live longer and fuller lives than ever before. And for the most part, that is good news. But with changes in the way we understand medicine come changes in the way we understand death. Once a familiar, peaceful, and gentle -- if sorrowful -- transition, death has come to be something from which we shield our eyes, as we prefer to fight desperately against it rather than accept its inevitability. Dr. Kathryn Mannix has studied and practiced palliative care for thirty years. In With the End in Mind , she shares beautifully crafted stories from a lifetime of caring for the dying, and makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of approaching death not with trepidation, but with openness, clarity, and understanding. Weaving the details of her own experiences as a caregiver through stories of her patients, their families, and their distinctive lives, Dr. Mannix reacquaints us with the universal, but deeply personal, process of dying. With insightful meditations on life, death, and the space between them, With the End in Mind describes the possibility of meeting death gently, with forethought and preparation, and shows the unexpected beauty, dignity, and profound humanity of life coming to an end.

Scripting Addiction takes readers into the highly ritualized world of mainstream American addiction treatment. It is a world where clinical practitioners evaluate how drug users speak about themselves and their problems, and where the ideal of "healthy" talk is explicitly promoted, carefully monitored, and identified as the primary sign of therapeutic progress. The book explores the puzzling question: why do addiction counselors dedicate themselves to reconciling drug users' relationship to language in order to reconfigure their relationship to drugs? To answer this question, anthropologist Summerson Carr traces the charged interactions between counselors, clients, and case managers at "Fresh Beginnings," an addiction treatment program for homeless women in the midwestern United States. She shows that shelter, food, and even the custody of children hang in the balance of everyday therapeutic exchanges, such as clinical assessments, individual therapy sessions, and self-help meetings. Acutely aware of the high stakes of self-representation, experienced clients analyze and learn to effectively perform prescribed ways of speaking, a mimetic practice they call "flipping the script." As a clinical ethnography, Scripting Addiction examines how decades of clinical theorizing about addiction, language, self-knowledge, and sobriety is manifested in interactions between counselors and clients. As an ethnography of the contemporary United States, the book demonstrates the complex cultural roots of the powerful clinical ideas that shape therapeutic transactions--and by extension administrative routines and institutional dynamics--at sites such as "Fresh Beginnings."

Many Christians are locked in a cycle of addiction, particularly in the areas of alcohol and drug abuse. Adapting his successful Steps to Freedom in Christ, Dr. Neil Anderson has provided an alternative model of recovery for substance and alcohol abusers-a model that has also freed hundreds of thousands struggling with other kinds of addictions. But the devil doesn't give up easily. So to further help recovering addicts still struggling with temptation, there is the Freedom Addiction Devotional. Here are inspirational readings that reinforce the Steps to Freedom and encourage those on the road to recovery. This product is for those who want to break free from a debilitating lifestyle of addiction, and for Pastors and counselors to use with their clients.

Internationally renowned author Ingeborg Bosch has made a breakthrough as one of the leading psychologists of her time. Her ground-breaking method, Past Reality Integration (PRI®) has proven itself as an impressive tool to free ourselves from negative emotions and destructive habits so that we can finally live life to the fullest.In this book, Ingeborg provides a clear explanation of how emotional problems develop, and shows us that life doesn't have to be as difficult as we are often prone to believe. Her step-by-step plan will help you to understand:. self-observation - when am I under the spell of my emotional brain?. symbol recognition - what starts up the reaction of my emotional brain? Which perception of my present circumstances activated my psychological immune system leading to destructive and painful emotions?. defence reversal - how to re-programme your emotional brain.The powerful techniques in this book will enable you to free yourself from obsolete defensive reactions, and move past anxiety, depression and fear so that you can live consciously in the NOW.