Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook - a review
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dailybitsofwisdom
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Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook - a review
Today’s advancements in technology and a growing tolerance towards unique lifestyles have allowed more people to adopt individualism. Yet despite how much many facets of life have become easier to accomplish individually, every person is inevitably dependent on one another. Every human being is part of a cohesive web of interdependence; we cannot escape the necessity for relationships and the intangible gifts they provide.
As someone who has suffered mental abuse, I constantly struggle with feelings of animosity and disinterest towards personal relationships. Often when this is the case, we become deluded in our own reasoning; leading to personal suffering in the form of mental disorders. Afflictions such as depression, eating disorders, and even addiction are all possible and can be easily traced back to even the seemingly smallest delusion.
When one begins to recognize their own imbalances it is either too late in the disorder’s development to seek help or they are convinced they can handle the problem themselves. Those who feel they are forced to go the latter route soon find themselves routinely browsing the shelves of the self-help aisle at their local book store. And after reading a few popular titles, many will feel so much relief from simply reading their pages that, instead of trying to employ their teachings, will continue to the next book in search of some end-all answer. This can lead to a situation in which the reader is addicted self-help books; caught in a limbo.
The fact is that it requires real effort to make changes in our lives especially in transforming self-destructing behavior. But will power will alone is not enough to undo deeply engrained habits. In order to defeat an addiction, one must find its underlying source. This is where Dr. Lance Dodes’ recent book, Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction, shines. Dr. Dodes’ new guide to fighting addiction is revolutionary in implying that the disorder, rather than causing emotional turmoil, is actually the effect of an emotional response to a feeling of helplessness. He explains that these feelings of helplessness are driven by a hidden source of rage. This makes the search for the root of these feelings very difficult because according to Dodes addictions are displaced, rather than direct, responses.
As you may have guessed from the title, this book is intended as an easy to use manual that can brought with you wherever you do. It details an easy to follow 7-step process for finding the underlying cause of addiction as well as how to go about addressing it. The steps are as follows:
1. How to Know If You Have an Addiction
2. How to Think About Yourself If You Have an Addiction
3. Recognizing the Key Moment in Addiction
4. How You Keep Yourself from Seeing the Addiction ahead of You
5. Understanding What is Happening in the Key Moment of Addiction
6. Short-Term Strategies for Dealing with Addiction
7. How to Deal with Addiction in the Long Term
Of all these steps, I found sections 1 and 2 to be the most discerning. In Step 1, Dr. Dodes addresses the reader’s possible concerns of whether a person’s long-held habits are actually addictions. The author goes beyond the precept that habits turn into addictions if you can’t live without them, urging us to go deeper into the psyche to learn if our ‘normal’ tendencies are expressed through physical objects or psychological outpours.
Step 2, which discusses how an addict should see themselves, emphasizes treating oneself with compassion. Addicts should not feel bad about their compulsions. If they knew what they were doing they would stop. Often addiction is seen as caused by outward pressures, but this is a lie. When the thought of giving in to addiction arises one needs to focus on their feelings rather than external reality. This is because their sense of helplessness is likely deeply personal to the person.
While these 2 steps only make up 10% of the book, it excels as a comprehensive guide to treating addiction because of the large number of examples and stories the author provides. Many people looking for guidance are looking for that one piece of literature that makes the reader feel more connected to the world. They may scour for years looking for that single piece that they can claim was specifically written for them. By creating stories that touch on alcoholism, prescription drug abuse, cocaine, overeating, anorexia/bulimia, too much sex, heroin, and obsessive compulsive disorder Dr. Dodes hits on almost every possible scenario imaginable.
As reach the book’s conclusion, you finish with two sections that concern those looking at addiction from the outside in: loved ones and professionals. Since most addicts don’t seek professional help, let alone help themselves, it’s more likely people reading this book are those who know someone with addiction and are looking for a way to help. Dodes gives multiple suggestions such as learning to show compassion for the person in trouble but also setting limits to protect yourself; that just because the other person lies to you doesn’t mean they’ve stopped caring for you; how you are never to blame as the source of his/her addiction – all crucial aspects in successful treatment. The doctor also helps explain how children see addiction and how it affects them.
What all this adds up to is a feeling or relief for those who have to deal with the illness. As with all illnesses, you should seek out professional treatment before trying it out on your own. But in what can seem like the long gaps between therapy sessions and rehab meetings, you are sure to have a little friend that can be brought anywhere, to ease your suffering.
As someone who has suffered mental abuse, I constantly struggle with feelings of animosity and disinterest towards personal relationships. Often when this is the case, we become deluded in our own reasoning; leading to personal suffering in the form of mental disorders. Afflictions such as depression, eating disorders, and even addiction are all possible and can be easily traced back to even the seemingly smallest delusion.
When one begins to recognize their own imbalances it is either too late in the disorder’s development to seek help or they are convinced they can handle the problem themselves. Those who feel they are forced to go the latter route soon find themselves routinely browsing the shelves of the self-help aisle at their local book store. And after reading a few popular titles, many will feel so much relief from simply reading their pages that, instead of trying to employ their teachings, will continue to the next book in search of some end-all answer. This can lead to a situation in which the reader is addicted self-help books; caught in a limbo.
The fact is that it requires real effort to make changes in our lives especially in transforming self-destructing behavior. But will power will alone is not enough to undo deeply engrained habits. In order to defeat an addiction, one must find its underlying source. This is where Dr. Lance Dodes’ recent book, Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction, shines. Dr. Dodes’ new guide to fighting addiction is revolutionary in implying that the disorder, rather than causing emotional turmoil, is actually the effect of an emotional response to a feeling of helplessness. He explains that these feelings of helplessness are driven by a hidden source of rage. This makes the search for the root of these feelings very difficult because according to Dodes addictions are displaced, rather than direct, responses.
As you may have guessed from the title, this book is intended as an easy to use manual that can brought with you wherever you do. It details an easy to follow 7-step process for finding the underlying cause of addiction as well as how to go about addressing it. The steps are as follows:
1. How to Know If You Have an Addiction
2. How to Think About Yourself If You Have an Addiction
3. Recognizing the Key Moment in Addiction
4. How You Keep Yourself from Seeing the Addiction ahead of You
5. Understanding What is Happening in the Key Moment of Addiction
6. Short-Term Strategies for Dealing with Addiction
7. How to Deal with Addiction in the Long Term
Of all these steps, I found sections 1 and 2 to be the most discerning. In Step 1, Dr. Dodes addresses the reader’s possible concerns of whether a person’s long-held habits are actually addictions. The author goes beyond the precept that habits turn into addictions if you can’t live without them, urging us to go deeper into the psyche to learn if our ‘normal’ tendencies are expressed through physical objects or psychological outpours.
Step 2, which discusses how an addict should see themselves, emphasizes treating oneself with compassion. Addicts should not feel bad about their compulsions. If they knew what they were doing they would stop. Often addiction is seen as caused by outward pressures, but this is a lie. When the thought of giving in to addiction arises one needs to focus on their feelings rather than external reality. This is because their sense of helplessness is likely deeply personal to the person.
While these 2 steps only make up 10% of the book, it excels as a comprehensive guide to treating addiction because of the large number of examples and stories the author provides. Many people looking for guidance are looking for that one piece of literature that makes the reader feel more connected to the world. They may scour for years looking for that single piece that they can claim was specifically written for them. By creating stories that touch on alcoholism, prescription drug abuse, cocaine, overeating, anorexia/bulimia, too much sex, heroin, and obsessive compulsive disorder Dr. Dodes hits on almost every possible scenario imaginable.
As reach the book’s conclusion, you finish with two sections that concern those looking at addiction from the outside in: loved ones and professionals. Since most addicts don’t seek professional help, let alone help themselves, it’s more likely people reading this book are those who know someone with addiction and are looking for a way to help. Dodes gives multiple suggestions such as learning to show compassion for the person in trouble but also setting limits to protect yourself; that just because the other person lies to you doesn’t mean they’ve stopped caring for you; how you are never to blame as the source of his/her addiction – all crucial aspects in successful treatment. The doctor also helps explain how children see addiction and how it affects them.
What all this adds up to is a feeling or relief for those who have to deal with the illness. As with all illnesses, you should seek out professional treatment before trying it out on your own. But in what can seem like the long gaps between therapy sessions and rehab meetings, you are sure to have a little friend that can be brought anywhere, to ease your suffering.
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Avid Reader
- Posts: 27
- Joined: 27 Sep 2011, 10:17
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Very interesting post, I'll post it on my work intranet if that is OK with you?
