Nghi Hoang Blackout shows how you can grow into the person you want to be and leave alcohol in the past—no matter where you are now. Quitting alcohol completely can be a challenge, but there are more ways to do it Sobriety than ever before. Here is our guide to giving up (or cutting back) on alcohol. If this book resonates with you, be sure to check out Grace’s podcast of the same name, This Naked Mind, where she and guests continue to dissect alcohol’s grasp on our lives and culture.
Not Drinking Tonight: A Guide to Creating a Sober Life You Love by Amanda E. White
Despite being published less than a year ago, Jamison’s memoir is a gritty and honest must-read. This is a self-help book by a licensed therapist that braids together anonymized client stories, personal narrative, psychological best alcoholic memoirs tools, and brain research. White thoughtfully explores boundaries, emotional regulation, body image, shame, and self-care in a way that’s actionable and accessible. The book is short, easy to read, and will leave you with some immediate tools for addressing social situations, sex, and friendship while navigating an alcohol-free lifestyle. This is one of the best memoirs on alcohol recovery in my opinion.
Nicole Graev Lipson Turns to Literature to Rewrite the Societal Roles Expected of Women
I said this convention concerned reading more directly than writing, but—since all good writing involves deep sensitivity to the reader’s experience—the two things are ultimately inseparable. For one kind of author, helping the reader is the whole point of writing an addiction memoir; for another, even to consider doing so would be aesthetically fatal. My guess is that most addiction memoirs involve some kind of compromise between the author’s aesthetic and ethical impulses. This ethical dimension (or an aesthetic impurity) is a distinctive aspect of addiction memoir as a literary form.
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I guess in the back of my mind I thought Prince Charming would come and save the day. And then other times I thought I would magically wake up one day and get my life together. Which is sort of what happened in some respect, but not in the way I expected. I just remember these moments I’d stop and allow myself to actually think about how bad things were, and only being able to sit with that feeling for a few seconds before I reached for the bottle. Instead of turning to substances, I’ve learned to put it all in a box. Literally – I went out and bought myself an index-card file.
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
- Stories heal, and no circle knows that more than the recovery circle.
- Over the past several decades, books falling under the umbrella of “addiction memoir” have become omnipresent.
- Always seek the advice of a physician or qualified health provider with questions regarding a medical condition.
- The Dry Challenge can be especially helpful for people who drink socially, and are looking to take a structured step back to re-evaluate their habits.
- A 1996 bestseller, Caroline Knapp paints a vivid picture of substance use and recovery that every reader can appreciate, whether you struggle with substance use or not.
Punch Me Up to the Gods is a beautifully written series of personal essays that describe Brian Broome’s experience growing up Black and queer in Ohio, and the effect early substance use had on his upbringing. This book tells an incredible story of not only recovery, but also how it connects to race and sexual identity. From inspirational bestsellers to celebrity memoirs, these tales of addiction and recovery offer advice, encouragement, and tips to help you face the challenges of sober living head-on. Alcohol abuse, particularly binge drinking, has increased significantly in women in recent years.
Transform Your Life: A Guided eBook
The tension between on the wagon/off the wagon is often good fodder for literature. Early sobriety forces, like giving birth, a quick and complete break with a former life in order to make way for a new, sometimes ambiguously desired one. The book ends on a hopeful bottom, where Don is clear-eyed and ready to give not drinking (and writing) another chance. It is the new day that every drunk faces each time they quit again. The second major problem for anyone writing an addiction memoir—and it’s often connected to the first—is how to conclude it. Only in rare cases—as when the subject of a https://www.oceaninstruments.co.uk/alcoholic-in-denial-how-to-recognize-the-signs/ biography dies—is the answer simple.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab
She discovers in Catholicism a spirituality that makes sense to her and seems to keep her sober, but she doesn’t proselytise or become too holy for irony. Instead she presents herself as a kind of Godly schmuck, chronically slow on the spiritual uptake. For readers who’ve followed her over three searingly honest books, where survival let alone redemption often seemed unlikely, her final discovery of a bruised and hard-won peace feels like an instance of what can only be called grace.
Although both men and women struggle with substance abuse, the issues that influence a woman’s descent into addiction and journey to sobriety are unique. These memoirs by female writers may strike a cord with women in treatment or help their loved ones better understand the experience of a female substance abuser. Turnabout, by Jean Kirkpatrick, was published in 1977, but remains as relevant today as when it was published almost 40 years ago. Dr. Kirkpatrick details her life as an active alcoholic, including her stays in psychiatric hospitals and her multiple failed attempts at achieving and sustaining sobriety.