The Complete Family Guide to Addiction Everything You Need to Know Now to Help Your Loved One and Yourself

If you are struggling to help a loved one recover from addiction--and to cope with the devastating impact on the whole family--you are not alone. But until now, there has been no single book that gives the millions of families like yours the comprehensive, unbiased information you need. This expertly written guide addresses the painful questions that spouses, parents, and grown children face every day. Why do addicts make such bad choices? How can you find (and afford) treatment that works--and convince your loved one to try it? Can relapse be prevented? When does being supportive cross the line to enabling? Providing science-based answers and resources, the authors cover crucial emotional, financial, and legal issues that simply aren't discussed in other books. The more your family knows about the myths and realities of addiction, the better equipped you will be to overcome it.

Thomas F. Harrison is a professional writer and the former editor of a national periodical for attorneys. After a close friend developed a substance use problem, he devoted himself to helping families and friends learn how to cope with the challenges of addiction. He is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
Hilary S. Connery, MD, PhD, is Clinical Director of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Connery has worked to educate family members and involve them in treatment since entering clinical practice in 2000. Her expertise includes treatment of opioid use disorders and of co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders. She contributed to the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline for Treatment of Substance Abuse and is an investigator in the New England Consortium of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Connery is New England Director for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and is a national physician mentor in the Prescriber’s Clinical Support System, which trains practitioners throughout the country in evidence-based medical care for substance use disorders.

Introduction: Family and Friends--The First Responders to the Addiction Crisis
I. What Is Addiction?
1. A Bewildering Illness
2. What Makes Someone an Addict, as Opposed to a Heavy Drinker or Recreational User?
3. How Addiction Affects the Brain
4. Why Do Some People Become Addicts and Others Don’t?
5. So Is Addiction a Disease? (And If Not, What Is It?)
6. Why Do People Get Addicted to One Particular Substance and Not Others?
7. What about Gambling Addiction, Sex Addiction, Etc.?
II. Living with an Addict
8. How Addicts Behave
9. How Loved Ones Are Affected
10. Denial, Enabling, and Codependency
11. The Stigma of Addiction
12. Strategies to Get a Loved One into Treatment
13. How to Cope When a Loved One Is Refusing Treatment
14. Dealing with a Child Who Is an Addict
15. Dealing with a Spouse Who is an Addict
16. Dealing with a Parent Who Is an Addict
III. Keeping an Addict Out of Trouble
17. Can an Employee Be Fired for Having an Addiction?
18. Drug Courts and Other Ways to Keep an Addict Out of Jail
19. Using Civil Commitment to Keep an Addict Safe
20. More Ways to Protect An Addict from Harm
IV. How Treatment Works
21. Can Addicts Get Well without Treatment?
22. A Brief Overview of Treatment Options
23. What Really Happens in Detox?
24. What Really Happens in Rehab?
25. How to Find a Good Rehab--and Pay for It
26. Psychotherapy Approaches That Are Used for Addicts
27. Drugs That Treat Alcohol Abuse
28. Drugs That Treat Drug Abuse
29. Does Alcoholics Anonymous Actually Work?
30. AA-Type Groups for Addictions Other than Alcohol
31. Alternative Support Groups for People Who Don’t Like AA
32. When an Addict Has Other Mental Health Problems
V. What to Expect in Recovery
33. What to Expect in Early Recovery
34. What Causes Relapse?
35. How to Prevent Relapse
36. What to Do If a Relapse Happens
37. Managing Addiction as a Long-Term Chronic Illness
Resources