My qualification is not that I am better than you but I am worse." (Russell Brand)With a rare mix of honesty, humor, and compassion, comedian and movie star Russell Brand mines his own wild story and shares the advice and wisdom he has gained through his 14 years of recovery. Brand speaks to those suffering along the full spectrum of addiction - from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar addictions to addictions to work, stress, bad relationships, digital media, and fame. Brand understands that addiction can take many shapes and sizes and how the process of staying clean, sane, and unhooked is a daily activity. He believes that the question is not "why are you addicted?" but "what pain is your addiction masking? Why are you running - into the wrong job, the wrong life, the wrong person's arms?"Russell has been in all the 12-step fellowships going, he's started his own men's group, he's a therapy regular and a practiced yogi - and while he's worked on this material as part of his comedy and previous best sellers, he's never before shared the tools that really took him out of it, that keep him clean and clear. Here he provides not only a recovery plan but an attempt to make sense of the ailing world.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

     Following the death of her husband, a literary biographer resolves to turn her professional skills to the task of piecing together aspects of his life, in particular, a journey he made years before they met – a hitchhike through France that he had tried to tell her about in the last few hours of his life. Picking her way through bundles of letters and postcards from five decades earlier, Katrin begins to uncover a life she knew nothing of, and an expedition that exceeded anything her professional, biographical subjects ever undertook. ‘Think of me then,’ her husband beseeched her, at the roadside, thumb in the air, gaily setting forth, ‘never forget me then.’ David Constantine’s passionate tale of grief and rediscovery marks only the second foray into novel writing for an author whose short fiction has won international acclaim. A great work of literature, he reminds us, is never finished, it is ‘a living and moving thing, alive in all its parts in every fibre’, designed to be inexhaustible and to outlive. As Katrin’s journey proves, the lives of those we love are similarly inexhaustible, they keep on offering up new revelations, possessing the people they leave behind, and forever needing to be re-written. @commapress

    Leslie Jamison deftly excavates the stories we tell about addiction--both her own and others'--and examines what we want these stories to do, and what happens when they fail us.All the while, she offers a fascinating look at the larger history of the recovery movement, and at the literary and artistic geniuses whose lives and works were shaped by alcoholism and substance dependence, including John Berryman, Jean Rhys, Raymond Carver, Billie Holiday, David Foster Wallace, and Denis Johnson, as well as brilliant figures lost to obscurity but newly illuminated here.For the power of her striking language and the sharpness of her piercing observations, Jamison has been compared to such iconic writers as Joan Didion and Susan Sontag. Yet her utterly singular voice also offers something new. With enormous empathy and wisdom, Jamison has given us nothing less than the story of addiction and recovery in America writ large, a definitive and revelatory account that will resonate for years to come.

    It’s something you do," teaches Terry Real. "It’s a minute-by-minute practice of connecting to others through empathy, vulnerability, and accountability." With Fierce Intimacy, this renowned author offers a revolutionary way of living in connection—one that allows you to cherish your partner, yourself, and your relationship in equal measure.How to Communicate with Love and Respect—Even When You Argue Terry’s approach to relationship is called "full-respect living"—to skillfully and honestly assert your needs while also honoring your partner’s needs. In these six sessions, he presents invaluable training for individuals and couples on developing the skills necessary for this authentic way of connecting. You’ll begin by learning how to clear away the outdated beliefs and habits that keep you from developing healthy self-esteem. Then Terry will help you and your partner transform the Five Losing Strategies that sabotage relationships into the Five Winning Strategies that lead to clear communication, trust, and mutual support. "When we dare to be more vulnerable and open and honest, we are forging new territory," says Terry Real. Whether you’re still seeking a partner or want to breathe new life into your existing relationship, Fierce Intimacy brings you essential tools for connecting with true respect, uncompromising honesty, and ever-deepening love.HIGHLIGHTS • The adaptive child—how to recognize and defuse self-sabotaging habits • Unhealthy self-esteem traps for men and women • Identifying your CNI (Core Negative Image)—a key to making arguments constructive instead of destructive • The Feedback Wheel—a four-step approach to revolutionize your communication • The Five Losing Strategies: our impulses to control, retaliate, and be right all the time • The Five Winning Strategies for shared happiness, connection, and success

    In "The Addicted Brain, "leading neuroscientist Michael Kuhar, Ph.D., explains how and why this happens and presents advances in drug addiction treatment and prevention. Using breathtaking brain imagery and other research, Kuhar shows the powerful, long-term brain changes that drugs can cause, revealing why it can be so difficult for addicts to escape their grip. Discover why some people are far more susceptible to addiction than others as the author illuminates striking neural similarities between drugs and other pleasures potentially capable of causing abuse or addiction including alcohol, gambling, sex, caffeine, and even Internet overuse. Kuhar concludes by outlining the 12 characteristics most often associated with successful drug addiction treatment. Authoritative and easy to understand, "The Addicted Brain "offers today s most up-to-date scientific explanation of addiction and what addicts, their families, and society can do about it."

    The letter was both a confession and an invitation for public scrutiny. “No matter where I was,” he recalls, “there was always a chance that someone had read my post and was waiting to catch me with a drink in my hand.” To help keep himself on the straight and narrow, Carr still has a counter at the top of his site, ticking off the number of days he’s gone without a drink.In this bracing (but zero-proof) tale of recovery, Carr delivers his own twelve steps to building a life without booze. His hard-earned advice, punctuated with anecdotes that are both cautionary and comic (a bender once took him to Iceland, where he drunkenly believed he’d get better Wi-Fi) is given with humility and goodwill. Along the way, Carr celebrates the simple yet overlooked pleasures of sobriety—weight loss, a renewed love life, the ability to buy a phone or laptop without promptly losing it in a bar. As he slowly discovers, a sober life actually CAN be fun. What’s more, he’ll remember it.

     In this book is a model of Masculine groundedness that you can manifest in your relationship with a strong and capable woman. Such a woman doesn’t settle for mediocre. She needs you to consistently follow through on your word, have purpose in life, remain grounded in the face of her intense emotion, make her feel safe, and provide leadership in the relationship. When that doesn’t happen, she may start to drift. Things between you will start to feel flat, contentious, or even toxic. To you, she will seem to nag and criticize more, and have less interest in sex. When she gets really angry, you’ll label it as “crazy” and blame her. But, in truth, she’s just expressing the pain of you not stepping up. It is a relationship arc that is all too common. Fighting or defending yourself doesn’t resolve anything. Withdrawing into work or your phone just makes it worse. And contorting yourself to avoid conflict just kills her respect for you. The answer is to develop and live from your Masculine core. This book shows you how in an actionable three-part framework: Respond vs. React, Provide Structure, and Create Safety. This is not the old model based on control, but a modern model based in clarity and leadership. This is not a manual for Alpha Dogs, nor a fuzzy spiritual guide. Rather, it is a clear set of principles that help you develop your Masculine leadership. And it doesn’t take anything away from Feminine power. It is a blueprint for inspiring your woman’s trust, lust, and devotion.

    Psychologist Dr. Chris Thurman guides the reader through part one that identifies the different areas of self-lies, religious lies, marital lies, distortion lies, and worldly lies. Part Two delves into the issues of what is truth, and Part Three deals with how to live the truth, ultimately revealing the freedom that can only come from one thing-believing and telling themselves the truth. An extremely easy-to-follow guide filled with comprehensive workbook exercises, this edition is a way to help people experience the emotional health, intimate relationships, and spiritual fulfillment they are seeking.Previous editions: 0-8407-3192-2 and 07852-7343-3

    In Stop drinkingnow, Allen Carr's Easyway method has been applied to problem drinking.By explaining why you feel the need to drink and, with simple step-by-stepinstructions to set you free, he shows you how to escape from the alcohol trap. A UNIQUE METHOD THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE WILLPOWER REMOVES THE DESIRE TO DRINK ALCOHOL STOP EASILY, IMMEDIATELY, PAINLESSLY AND PERMANENTLY REGAIN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFEWhat people say about Allen Carr's Easyway method:"The Allen Carr program was nothing short of a miracle."Anjelica Huston"It was such a revelation that instantly I was freed from my addiction."Sir Anthony Hopkins"His skill is in removing the psychological dependence."The Sunday Times

    The loving mother of twins and a newborn, Brownell used alcohol to maintain a sense of her adult self and be more than "just mommy." It didn't take long before her drinking spiraled out of control, consuming her life and marriage, and she realized that she needed serious help. Both heartwrenching and inspiring, this is Brownell's truelife story, from the first thirty days to the year mark. Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore is not a book that preaches or simply takes the reader through the Twelve Steps. It provides hope and motivation to get into a program and balance your life as a mother and a recovering alcoholic.

    Argues that a clear understanding and free expression of one's feelings provide release from self-limiting defenses and emotional binds and access to fuller experience and satisfaction.

    With the lack of love, dealing with rejection, bitterness and abuse Kierra and Brandon feel as though life couldn’t get any worse.Kierra is a motherless child who feels as though no one wants her. She regrets the day her mother and father conceived her. Being from a family that didn’t have much, she was determined to leave and never come back to the life she once lived. That is until she pops up pregnant from her overly possessive and abusive boyfriend, who doesn’t want her but doesn’t want anyone else to have her either. He goes through extreme measures to make sure that Kierra doesn’t get the attention she deserves from anyone else, even her best friend Brandon.Brandon comes from a family of wealth but everything that glitters is not always gold. Brandon deals with rejection from his father and although Brandon has everything he wants he still feels a void in his life. Brandon is raised in church but feels that all church is about is a fashion show and money. Brandon decides to leave his family and venture off into a world of his own, only to realize that there were some life lessons only his drunk father could teach him. Brandon ends up right back where he started; home. Kierra and Brandon are going through a lot from their youth all the way to adulthood, until a mentor steps into their life and guides them into the direction they should go. Only God can take the sting of rejection and depression and give them beauty for ashes.

    Growing up in Beverly Hills, Amy Dresner had it all: a top-notch private school education, the most expensive summer camps, and even a weekly clothing allowance. But at 24, she started dabbling in meth in San Francisco and unleashed a fiendish addiction monster. Soon, if you could snort it, smoke it, or have sex with, she did. Smart and charming, with Daddy's money to fall back on, she sort of managed to keep it all together. But on Christmas Eve 2011 all of that changed when, high on Oxycontin, she stupidly "brandished" a bread knife on her husband and was promptly arrested for "felony domestic violence with a deadly weapon." Within months, she found herself in the psych ward--and then penniless, divorced, and looking at 240 hours of court-ordered community service. For two years, assigned to a Hollywood Boulevard "chain gang," she swept up syringes (and worse) as she bounced from rehabs to halfway houses, all while struggling with sobriety, sex addiction, and starting over in her forties. In the tradition of Orange Is the New Black and Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight, Amy Dresner's My Fair Junkie is an insightful, darkly funny, and shamelessly honest memoir of one woman's battle with all forms of addiction, hitting rock bottom, and forging a path to a life worth living.

    Tragedies are inevitable, just like the great love stories, like us.”Thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne is desperate to be a mother. And this time, nothing is going to get in her way.Sure, her husband, Gabe, is ambivalent about fatherhood. But she knows that once he holds their baby, he’ll come around. He’s just feeling a little threatened, that’s all. Because once upon a time, it was Gabe that Adrienne wanted more than anything; she was willing to do anything. . . . But that was half a lifetime ago. She’s a different person now, and so is Gabe. There are lines she wouldn’t cross, not without extreme provocation.And sure, she was bitten once before by another birth mother—clear to the bone—and for most people, it’s once bitten, twice shy. But Adrienne isn’t exactly the retiring type.At nineteen, Leah bears a remarkable resemblance to the young woman Adrienne once was. Which is why Adrienne knows the baby Leah is carrying is meant to be hers. But Leah’s got ideas of her own: Her baby’s going to get a life in California; why shouldn’t she? All she wants is to live in Adrienne’s house for a year after the baby’s born, and get a fresh start.It seems like a small price for Adrienne to pay to get their baby. And with Gabe suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?

    A.A. members know of Dr. Paul's wisdom through the often-quoted passage from his story in A.A.'s Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Dr. Paul continues sharing his astute insight and gentle humor with discussions of the physical, mental, emotional, interpersonal and spiritual aspects of sobriety.