Recovery from Addiction: A Practical Guide to Treatment, Self-Help, and Quitting on Your Own

by William Cloud, Robert Granfield

Overview

Millions of people enter or seriously consider entering alcohol or drug treatment each year. In their understandable state of urgency, most first-time treatment seekers and their loved ones may rush to the first treatment option they encounter. They are unlikely to be aware of why one form of intervention would be a good choice for their particular problem or why some approaches may, under some conditions, actually be harmful. Lacking reliable information, they are unable to make informed choices.

Recovery from Addiction offers a concise, reader-friendly guide for substance dependent persons, their families, and friends to help make sense of the full range of available treatment options.

Cloud and Granfield introduce readers to their options, from inpatient and outpatient programs and today's major pharmacological approaches to alternative therapies including strategies for using the Internet to access support meetings and approaches which do not call for life-long abstinence from the substances now causing the problem. They outline the underlying principles of each program, its pros and cons, and what a participant can expect when entering that type of treatment, guiding readers in choosing the approach likely to be best for them or their loved one. They also provide specific strategies for addicted individuals who wish to consider recovery on their own, without groups or treatment.

A vital resource for addicts wishing to recover and their loved ones, Recovery from Addiction is also a valuable tool for health care professionals, from social workers to school counselors, responsible for referring clients to drug and alcohol recovery programs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814716076
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2001
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

William Cloud is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, where he developed and has been chair of the Drug Dependency Concentration in the M.S.W. program.

Robert Granfield is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Denver. They are the co-authors of Coming Clean: Overcoming Addiction without Treatment (also available from NYU Press) and have each taught, conducted research, and worked in the field of addiction for over twenty-five years.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
1.	Introduction	1
Part 1	Consumers' Guide to Addiction Treatment
2.	Overview of Traditional Addiction Treatment	13
3.	Pros and Cons of Entering Traditional Treatment	32
4.	Pros and Cons of Participating in 12-Step Groups	48
5.	New and Emerging Approaches to Quitting	60
6.	The Environment of Addiction and Resolution	82
7.	Selecting an Approach That Is Best for You	114
Part 2	Quitting on Your Own
8.	Quitting the Natural Way: Is Natural Resolution for You?	149
9.	Initial Challenges to Self-Change	162
10.	Maintaining Your Recovery Naturally	183
11.	Living without Addiction	202
	About the Authors	223

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A very up-to-date 'Consumer's Guide' to the best-of-the-best in addiction solutions. A must read for everyone trying to help solve this problem."

-Mark F. Kern,Founder and Director of Addiction Alternatives and Life Managements Skills, Inc.

"An instant classic, Professors Cloud and Granfield carefully show how solving existential problems is the only way people 'recover' from the metaphorical disease called 'addiction.' Recovery from Addiction should be required reading for anyone who believes addiction 'treatment' is necessary, let alone effective."

-Jeffrey A. Schaler,Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Justice, Law and Society,American University, Washington, DC, and author of Addiction Is a Choice

"In Recovery from Addiction, Drs. Cloud and Granfield have illuminated the secret side of addiction. The model of addiction most prominently paraded in American culture today represents a one sided view built on observations of the behavior of a MINORITY of persons suffering from addictive disorders, i.e., those unable to make positive changes without some type of outside intervention. In dispelling the myth of the universality of that model, Cloud and Granfield accurately describe how persons fall into addiction and the characteristics of the majority of this group who develop and follow strategies for unassisted positive change. This book is must reading for addiction students, educators and those desiring a reality based understanding of addictive behavior."

-J. Michael Faragher Psy.D. CACIII,Associate Dean, School of Professional Studies, Metropolitan State College of Denver

Editorial Reviews

"A very up-to-date 'Consumer's Guide' to the best-of-the-best in addiction solutions. A must read for everyone trying to help solve this problem."

-Mark F. Kern,Founder and Director of Addiction Alternatives and Life Managements Skills, Inc.

"An instant classic, Professors Cloud and Granfield carefully show how solving existential problems is the only way people ‘recover’ from the metaphorical disease called ‘addiction.’ Recovery from Addiction should be required reading for anyone who believes addiction ‘treatment’ is necessary, let alone effective.”

-Jeffrey A. Schaler,Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Justice, Law and Society,American University, Washington, DC, and author of Addiction Is a Choice

"In Recovery from Addiction, Drs. Cloud and Granfield have illuminated the secret side of addiction. The model of addiction most prominently paraded in American culture today represents a one sided view built on observations of the behavior of a MINORITY of persons suffering from addictive disorders, i.e., those unable to make positive changes without some type of outside intervention. In dispelling the myth of the universality of that model, Cloud and Granfield accurately describe how persons fall into addiction and the characteristics of the majority of this group who develop and follow strategies for unassisted positive change. This book is must reading for addiction students, educators and those desiring a reality based understanding of addictive behavior."

-J. Michael Faragher Psy.D. CACIII,Associate Dean, School of Professional Studies, Metropolitan State College of Denver

From the Publisher