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Addict In The Family: Stories of Loss, Hope, and Recovery.
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Educational Read
A good introduction to the perils of addiction and the biological and chemical processes that grip users. An important message to anyone touched by the horrors of addiction.
Rating:  - Must Read
This is a very helpful book for any person with an addict in the family. This book confirmed many of the same things I am going through with my son who is addicted to painkillers and heroin. In addition to helping me cope and help me understand my son's own addiction, it has revealed to me the importance of getting myself well. Addiction effects the entire family in a very damaging and far reaching way. I have a long way to go but I am learning to detach myself in order to move forward and be there for my son when he finally decides that recovery is the best and only course of action. This will be probably one of the toughest challenges I will face in my life. This book has given me hope and let me know that I am not alone in this lifelong struggle.
Rating:  - Inspiring, if predictable at times
This book is analagous to a well-stocked pantry filled with provisions as well as the implements needed to put these resources to good use. The essence of the author's message appears to be based on the 12-Step prototype. If "Addict in the Family" contains any weakness at all, it might be the author's tendency to do it all by "The Book," including peppering the account with various references to 12-step doctrines, adages and buzzwords. A reader who is already familiar with the steps might find this format to be slightly repetitious and fairly predictable.
Through the author's story of her daughter's addiction as well as accounts given to her by other parents and loved ones of addicts, we are able to contemplate, if not feel, the pernicious grip that addiction has on everyone in the addict's circle. What follows are examples of every- day situations family members face as a result of their loved ones' addictions. We are given examples of strategies and responses that are helpful in managing or deflecting the often irrational behavior of the addict.
There is a dash of irony in the lessons that are imparted along the way: It seems that it is not only the addicted person who is prone to be obsessive or compulsive, but that his loved ones often become addicted, in a sense, to the substance abuser's addiction. Addicts tend to fall into the habit of concealing their ignoble behavior beneath a convincing enough topping of lies, subterfuge and denial. It appears that we family members, in the beginning, at least, are willing - even eager - to believe the fantastic multi-layered cake of deception towering in front of us. As we continue to gain strength from the author's wisdom, we come to recognize how the loved ones, along with the addicted, are being poisoned by the unsavory byproducts of addiction. We read as the similarities and ironies continue to emerge: The addict is ashamed; so are we. The addict is angry; and so are we. The addicted one is depressed, sad and despondent, and we are, too.
This book offers suggestions to the family and loved ones of the addict, and these methods require us to exchange our toxic coating of negativity and denial, for one that nourishes us - physically, mentally, spiritually and economically - without distorting our reality. The author recalls a time when her daughter, upon being asked of her whereabouts that evening, began to concoct one of her characteristically tall tales. Although her mother knew her daughter was lying, she refused to challenge the veracity of the daughter's statement. Instead the mother allowed her daughter to finish, while she responded impassively, empowering herself and disarming her daughter in the process.
Setting rules and limits for the addict is another mechanism suggested in the book as a way to safeguard our overall wellbeing. Asking the addict to move out should his behavior become too disruptive or disturbing - and carrying out the order - is one more example of disengaging from our addicted love ones. There are many other inspiring stories included in the book along with helpful advice, hope and encouragement from those who have been where we, the families of an addict, are now.
At the end of the book, there are pages with listings of substance abuse facilities, mental health treatment centers, dual diagnosis rehabs, detox centers, and services for the families of the chemically addicted. It is a very comprehensive list for those who are looking for help in dealing with an addiction, whether it be a loved one's or their own.
Rating: - Excellent Book for Family Members of an Addict
This is one of the best books I have read in regards to how addiction affects the family. It has some stories as examples, but gets to the point. I am a counselor and a family member of an addict. I found this book right on with my experiences dealing with my younger sister who is an addict. It has a nice balance of education and ways to deal with an addict. We as family members have to stop enabling the addict or we are just helping them stay sick. This book makes this point very clear. Well written and easy to read. This book is a source of comfort like the author states in her introduction. She did a great job putting together information and she is so right when she states there are few books out there for family memebers. I would love to see one on how siblings are affected by the addict and the parents that focus on the addict. I thought this was so well written I bought and sent copies to all my siblings and mother. We all have participated or are still participating in enabling behaviors, which although intentions are good, it is not helpful, it is destructive.
Rating: - Read this one first - great overview!
Hopeless confusion are the two words that come to mind when I think of the time I learned my two daughters were heroin addicts. I wish I had this book then. It gives very good descriptions and examples of the things you will feel, the questions you will have, and the hope that is there behind all the despair. You'll still try to cure them, but it won't take so long to realize that you can only cure yourself. This book is also for those of you who dismiss the worthless, lying, thieving drug addicts and alcolholics out there as a waste of effort, as I once did. Read this book, and feel the pain and agony of the loving codependents of those addicts, and pray you are not next.
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