Mary Karr’s memoir, set in Boston (Cambridge), chronicles her path toward sobriety with crackling honesty and wry humor as she effectively connects her family dynamics as a child living in a chaotic home to her adult state of perpetual best books for alcoholics chaos. As a mother, I relate to her story so deeply—our children were the same young age when we stopped drinking. She’s an iconic, witty literary voice, an engrossing storyteller, and this book too is a great study in memoir. “If you’ve ever wanted to know what an exceptional critical mind looks like on drugs, read White Out. This book is full of enduring insights about time, literature, and memory; it is also a hilarious and scandalous and frightening chronicle of full-blown heroin addiction (and graduate school!).
- So here’s a list of my all-time favorite reads about substance use disorders.
- Because alcoholics and drug users have notoriously terrible memories, he went back and interviewed the people in his life who had been there to try to piece together what really happened.
- This book may also help you see sobriety as a gift you’re giving to your body.
- In this tale, author Catherine Gray describes the surprising joys you can experience when you ditch drinking.
Transportation For Kids Books: 2024’s Updated Collection of 20 Must-Reads
I started reading addiction memoirs in college, well before I admitted to having an alcohol use disorder. In her early 20s, writer Jamison (The Empathy Exams) started drinking daily to ease her chronic shyness and deal with the stress of getting alcoholism her master’s degree at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Identifying with accomplished writers whose creativity seemed to thrive in a haze of intoxication, she fell further into the depths of alcoholism before hitting rock bottom. After failed attempts at sobriety, she found a combination of treatments—attending meetings, sharing her story and the 12-step AA program—that worked for her. Despite being published less than a year ago, Jamison’s memoir is a gritty and honest must-read.
Best Addiction Books: Science, Stories & Memoirs
Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. As a child, Sandy had been told Bob was ‘crazy,’ that he had spent time in mental hospitals while growing up in Berkeley in the 60s and 70s. But Bob had lived a hermetic life in a remote part of California for longer than Sandy had been alive, and what little Sandy knew of him came from rare family reunions or odd, infrequent phone calls. “This raw, darkly comic series of astonishing vignettes is Emily Colas’ achingly honest chronicle of her twisted journey through the obsessive-compulsive disorder that came to dominate her world.
Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So by Mark Vonnegut, M.D.
- When we are deprived of loving companionship, it can be daunting to go through the effort involved in finding a special relationship.
- His writing is startling in its earnest simplicity, drawing a vivid picture of his descent into heroin use and addiction.
Whether the man she loves recovers or not, Aron is forced into a reckoning of her own — that she is an enabler in a codependent relationship. There are many factors to consider when trying to understand the causes of behavioral addictions, especially porn addiction. That can range from a history of sexual abuse, to more straightforward enjoyment breaking up a boring day. For instance, a person may notice a desire to watch porn after feeling rejected – not necessarily in a sexual context, but perhaps after having an idea dismissed or being socially excluded. That’s one example of how it’s not necessarily compulsive – it’s a response to emotional pain.
What sets this workbook apart is its emphasis on personalized treatment planning. Dr. Glasner-Edwards began working on the workbooks when she started reading addiction memoirs and recognized that recovery is not a one-size-fits-all process. The workbook encourages readers to tailor the strategies and techniques to their unique needs and circumstances and work to create a healthy space for healing. By providing a customizable roadmap for recovery, this workbook empowers individuals to take ownership of their journey and make meaningful progress towards their goals. “How to Murder Your Life” is a gripping and unfiltered honest account of one woman’s journey through substance abuse and self-destruction toward a life of sobriety and self-acceptance.