Download or read book The Face of Addiction written by Joshua Lawson and published by . This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You've heard the horror stories about drug addiction. Your eyes glaze over with half-hearted interest when you see the stats surrounding the "opioid crisis." You know you should care that 130 people are dying of accidental overdose every day in America, yet you just can't seem to muster the compassion. Substance use disorder may be a vague abstraction to most of us, but our friends and family are not. Our sons and daughters aren't "junkies" who deserve to be written off by society. They are human beings whose lives are filled with meaning and potential. Joshua Lawson has worked as an organizer, pastor, and ally to people who use drugs in central Appalachia for the past three years. The Face of Addiction tells the stories of twelve people he met when he first began "getting close" to the things that matter in his community. There's the woman whose husband succumbed to an overdose even though she was sure he'd finally beaten it. The man who found a reason for recovery in his daughter's letter to Santa. The city councilman whose perspective finally changed after years of family turmoil. What's more, two of the people featured here have died since giving their interview. That's how important it is for you to hear what they have to say. So much heartache and loss. So much joy and redemption. So much humanity. This is the face of addiction.

Download or read book Clearing the Haze written by Christian Thurstone and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often it is difficult for parents to recognize when their child is abusing alcohol, using illegal drugs, or in trouble with other substances that are hazardous to their health, safety, and wellbeing. Clearing the Haze is a guide designed to help parents determine whether their child may have a substance problem and, if so, how to begin to address it. The book includes the voices and insight of experts in substance abuse counseling, young people in recovery, and parents who have lived the nightmare of adolescent addiction. The book moves readers through an overview of adolescent brain development, the warning signs of drug use and addiction, treatment options, what families should expect of therapy, the basics of productive communication, and the difficulties of dealing lovingly with addicted teens. The authors encourage families entering the 12th step of “giving back” to consider advocacy for smarter public policies surrounding drug access and addiction treatment. They also provide a list of resources parents may find useful. A necessary resource for every community, this book will help parents, teachers, friends, and others help kids who need help.

Download or read book The Face of Addiction written by Chris Burns and published by America Star Books. This book was released on 2015-01-07 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Narratives of Addiction written by Kevin McCarron and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-03 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narratives of Addiction: Savage Usury is the first book to argue, in the face of more than a century’s received wisdom, that drug addiction and alcoholism are undoubtedly evidence of individual moral flaws. However, the sense of morality that underlies this book is completely severed from Christianity. Instead, it is influenced in particular by the writings of the nineteenth-century German philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Frederick Nietzsche, both of whom insisted that a genuine morality was actually incompatible with Christianity. The sequence of chapters moves from addictions on the streets, into rehab clinics, and finally into the meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. This is the first book to argue that the search for pleasure drives alcoholism and drug addiction and not the “numbing of pain”. Throughout the book I reject the claims of the medical profession, as embodied by the American Medical Association, that drug addiction and alcoholism are diseases, and further argue that they do not have the authority to tell hundreds of millions of Americans that addiction is not a moral failing. I also query throughout the book the claims of neuroscience, psychology, and the social sciences that addictions to alcohol and drugs are attributable to causes that their specific disciplines are best suited to understand. I argue that there is nothing complex about addiction: it is a simple behavioural disorder. The language routinely employed to discuss addiction is similarly not complex, just confused, and so it is also the rhetoric of addiction discourse, especially its use of simile, metaphor and euphemism, that this book evaluates.

Download or read book Beyond Addiction written by Jeffrey Foote and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-02-18 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most innovative leaders in progressive addiction treatment in the US offer a groundbreaking, science-based guide to helping loved ones overcome addiction problems and compulsive behaviors. The most innovative leaders in progressive addiction treatment in the US offer a groundbreaking, science-based guide to helping loved ones overcome addiction problems and compulsive behaviors. Beyond Addiction eschews the theatrics of interventions and tough love to show family and friends how they can use kindness, positive reinforcement, and motivational and behavioral strategies to help their loved ones change. Drawing on forty collective years of research and decades of clinical experience, the authors present the best practical advice science has to offer. Delivered with warmth, optimism, and humor, Beyond Addiction defines a new, empowered role for friends and family and a paradigm shift for the field. Learn how to tap the transformative power of relationships for positive change, guided by exercises and examples. Practice what really works in therapy and in everyday life, and discover many different treatment options along with tips for navigating the system. And have hope: this guide is designed not only to help someone change, but to help someone want to change.

Download or read book Tales of Addiction and Inspiration for Recovery written by Barbara Sinor and published by Loving Healing Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This inspiring and penetrating new book by Dr. Sinor shows how we gather the courage and the force of will to make a transformational change."--Mark Thurston, Ph.D.

Download or read book Facing Addiction in America written by Office of the Surgeon General and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Facing the Dragon written by David Parnell and published by Health Communications, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After more than 23 years addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs, Parnell put an SKS assault rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger. Here he chronicles how that desperate act pulled him out of his personal hell.

Download or read book Life on the Rocks written by Peg O'Connor and published by Central Recovery Press, LLC. This book was released on 2015-12-21 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indispensable guide to the deeply philosophical concerns at the heart of every addict's struggle. Addiction and recovery are, at their core, about the meaning of life. Life on the Rocks is the first book to address addiction and recovery from a Western philosophical perspective, offering a powerful set of tools sharpened over millennia. It introduces some of the core concepts and vexing questions of philosophy to help addicts and those affected by their addiction examine and perhaps transform the meaning they make of their lives. Without assuming any familiarity with philosophy, Dr. O’Connor illuminates issues all addicts and their loved ones face: self-identity, moral responsibility, self-knowledge and self-deception, free will and determinism, fatalism, the nature of God, and their relations to others. Life on the Rocks is an indispensable guide to the deeply philosophical concerns at the heart of every addict’s struggle. Peg O’Connor, PhD, is professor of philosophy and gender, women, and sexuality studies at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. She is the author of the popular Psychology Today blog “Philosophy Stirred, Not Shaken” and contributor to the Pro Talk series at Rehabs.com.

Download or read book High Achiever written by Tiffany Jenkins and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An up-close portrait of the mind of an addict and a life unraveled by narcotics—a memoir of captivating urgency and surprising humor that puts a human face on the opioid crisis. “Raw, brutal, and shocking. Move over, Orange Is the New Black.”—Amy Dresner, author of My Fair Junkie When word got out that Tiffany Jenkins was withdrawing from opiates on the floor of a jail cell, people in her town were shocked. Not because of the twenty felonies she’d committed, or the nature of her crimes, or even that she’d been captain of the high school cheerleading squad just a few years earlier, but because her boyfriend was a Deputy Sherriff, and his friends—their friends—were the ones who’d arrested her. A raw and twisty page-turning memoir that reads like fiction, High Achiever spans Tiffany’s life as an active opioid addict, her 120 days in a Florida jail where every officer despised what she’d done to their brother in blue, and her eventual recovery. With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease—whether it’s a loved one or themselves.

Download or read book The East Side of Addiction written by James DiReda and published by Dgm Publishing. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The East Side of Addiction is an altogether real and gritty depiction of a middle class neighborhood's descent into addiction and the collateral damage suffered by their families and the community at large. The book narrates an "Against All Odds" themed story, written to give hope to a generation devastated by the current Opiold Epidemic."

Download or read book I Am Your Disease written by Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis and published by Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis. This book was released on 2006-10 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mom, nobody wakes up one day and decides to be an addict." The stories contained in this book are about people from every walk of life, socioeconomic levels, religious and ethnic backgrounds whose lives were intertwined with people who didnt "decide to be an addict." They all share one common bond - living with, and loving an addicted person. Contained within the pages of this book are stories by bereaved parents who have suffered the ultimate loss: The loss of their precious child. Read how addiction, whether it be drugs, alcohol or gambling, destroys not only the addicted person, but their entire circle of friends and family. No one escapes the tentacles of addiction. Like an octopus it reaches its deadly arms around us and squeezes the very life out of all of us. Our society is affected in ways we never imagined. Read excerpts from middle school students on the peer pressures they face today. Read about "pharming" and other code words used by kids. Read the stories of parents who have gone through hell, sacrificing their very sanity trying to save their child. The profiles of these children will change your mind about what kind of people do drugs. GOOD KIDS DO DRUGS TOO! And theyre dying by the thousands from high profile celebrities to the boys and girls next door. It isnt always heroin or cocaine thats killing them. Prescription pill abuse is growing at an alarming rate and parents need to know about this.

Download or read book The Urge written by Carl Erik Fisher and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and The Boston Globe An authoritative, illuminating, and deeply humane history of addiction—a phenomenon that remains baffling and deeply misunderstood despite having touched countless lives—by an addiction psychiatrist striving to understand his own family and himself “Carl Erik Fisher’s The Urge is the best-written and most incisive book I’ve read on the history of addiction. In the midst of an overdose crisis that grows worse by the hour and has vexed America for centuries, Fisher has given us the best prescription of all: understanding. He seamlessly blends a gripping historical narrative with memoir that doesn’t self-aggrandize; the result is a full-throated argument against blaming people with substance use disorder. The Urge is a propulsive tour de force that is as healing as it is enjoyable to read.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick Even after a decades-long opioid overdose crisis, intense controversy still rages over the fundamental nature of addiction and the best way to treat it. With uncommon empathy and erudition, Carl Erik Fisher draws on his own experience as a clinician, researcher, and alcoholic in recovery as he traces the history of a phenomenon that, centuries on, we hardly appear closer to understanding—let alone addressing effectively. As a psychiatrist-in-training fresh from medical school, Fisher was soon face-to-face with his own addiction crisis, one that nearly cost him everything. Desperate to make sense of the condition that had plagued his family for generations, he turned to the history of addiction, learning that the current quagmire is only the latest iteration of a centuries-old story: humans have struggled to define, treat, and control addictive behavior for most of recorded history, including well before the advent of modern science and medicine. A rich, sweeping account that probes not only medicine and science but also literature, religion, philosophy, and public policy, The Urge illuminates 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 endeavored 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 for many people with addiction, himself included. Only by reckoning with our history of addiction, he argues—our successes and our failures—can we light the way forward for those whose lives remain threatened by its hold. 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.

Download or read book Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-09-03 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

Download or read book Drugs Addiction and the Brain written by George F. Koob and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-07-12 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drugs, Addiction, and the Brain explores the molecular, cellular, and neurocircuitry systems in the brain that are responsible for drug addiction. Common neurobiological elements are emphasized that provide novel insights into how the brain mediates the acute rewarding effects of drugs of abuse and how it changes during the transition from initial drug use to compulsive drug use and addiction. The book provides a detailed overview of the pathophysiology of the disease. The information provided will be useful for neuroscientists in the field of addiction, drug abuse treatment providers, and undergraduate and postgraduate students who are interested in learning the diverse effects of drugs of abuse on the brain. - Full-color circuitry diagrams of brain regions implicated in each stage of the addiction cycle - Actual data figures from original sources illustrating key concepts and findings - Introduction to basic neuropharmacology terms and concepts - Introduction to numerous animal models used to study diverse aspects of drug use. - Thorough review of extant work on the neurobiology of addiction

Download or read book Addiction and Recovery For Dummies written by Brian F. Shaw and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-05-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluate medications and treatment programs Break free from addictive substances or behaviors and get a fresh start Think you have an addiction? This compassionate guide helps you identify the problem and work towards a healthy, realistic approach to recovery, explaining the latest clinical and self-help treatments for both adults and teens. This book also offers tips on reducing cravings, handling your relationships, and staying well for the long run. Discover how to * Identify the reasons for addiction * Choose the best treatment plan * Handle slips and relapses * Detect addictions in a loved one * Find help and support

Download or read book The Age of Addiction written by David T. Courtwright and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 2019-05-06 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “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