Books on addiction
My brother is an alcoholic. I’ve made a conscious effort to talk about him (with his permission) as well as addiction to help dispel some of the shame associated with alcoholism and addiction. Through the many, many years of my brothers alcohol and drug abuse, I read several different books on addiction to help me understand and cope with what he was going through and what we were going through as a family (because addiction is a family issue, not just a personal issue).
I compiled a list of these books relating to addiction that I have read through the years. I’m the type of person who wants to get their hands on as much information as possible especially when it relates to something I’m going through or something that relates to my life or someone in my family. Reading memoirs of people who suffer from addiction, or reading books written by people who love an addict was helpful for me as I struggled to know how best to help my brother while at the same time preserving my own life, sanity and family. Although there often seems to be no good answers when it comes to addiction, it helped me to know other people felt the way I felt or struggled with the things I struggled with. It was also helpful to see how the addict thinks when they’re going through all of this.
I still have so much to learn about the dark world of addiction, but these books gave me a good start. I’m currently reading “Chasing the Scream” by Johann Hari which is incredibly interesting about the drug war in the United States and how it applies to addicts. He has some intriguing ideas.
You can read the full blog post and find the list of books here.
