Burroughs thought he was managing to keep it all together as a suit-wearing, hard-partying Manhattanite until he landed in rehab at the bequest of his employers. With best alcoholic memoirs the same wit and candor found in his other popular works, we follow the writer from a rehab reality check back to the bustling city, where he must learn to navigate life on the wagon. Michael Pond has treated people with addiction for years as a psychotherapist but finds himself homeless, broke and alone when he succumbs to his own battle with alcohol use disorder. Raw and real, Pond’s bok shows how he uncovers a new path to recovery outside the traditional abstinence-based programs with the help of his partner, Maureen Palmer. The result is a new, science-based approach to treating and managing addiction.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

That’s where Fiona Beckett’s recipe book comes in – it’s not quite quit lit but it’s close enough. For a true story of addiction and a view into the world of alcohol addiction, psychotherapist and mindset coach Ella McCrystal recommends Tiffany Jenkin’s memoir. Naomi Buffery, a sobriety coach and self-described recovered binge drinker, agrees. “What I found great about this book is the transformation the author went through,” she says.

The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

• If I have any faith now, it’s in literature’s ability to help us redeem even life’s darkest realities by bringing them into the light.
• Ms. Bydlowska opens the door to one of the more taboo type of problem drinkers – moms.
• Which is sort of what happened in some respect, but not in the way I expected.

Annie’s book is so important (and she’s a wonderful human to boot). She brilliantly weaves psychological, neurological, cultural, social and industry factors with her own journey. Without scare tactics, pain, or rules, she offers a strategy to give you freedom from alcohol.

Alcohol Recovery Coaching Transformed My Life

Smith’s memoir details her interventions, her eventual treatment, and her recovery – while showing how she hid https://akrasov.ru/alcohol-consumption-and-autoimmune-diseases-2/ her addiction, functioned around it, and used drugs and alcohol to cope with real life problems. 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.

Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction by Elizabeth Vargas

Laura Willoughby MBE is the founder of the world’s largest mindful drinking movement, Club Soda, and it’s one she recommends too. “As a mother, this was a book I could resonate with. Clare guides you through her sobriety journey from day one,” says sober coach Naomi Buffery. Quit lit is a small but ever-growing genre of books helping us reconsider everything we’ve learned about alcohol and drinking culture. From memoirs to self-help guides, these books often reveal the author’s own story and offer helpful advice to those looking to cut back or ditch alcohol completely.

But she was also reckless, often finding herself soberly apologizing for things she didn’t remember doing, waking up next to men she didn’t remember meeting and caring for bruises she didn’t remember getting. Subtitled “Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget,” Hepola’s debut memoir is a vulnerable story about refocusing her attention from finding her next drink to learning how to love herself without liquid enhancements. Over the past several decades, books falling under the umbrella of “addiction memoir” have become omnipresent.

Nedra Glover Tawwab combines wisdom, research, and practical tools to help you change your life by building sustainable boundaries that actually work for you. This book is highly recommended for anyone who, like me, is or was terrified of living a boring life. This book will inspire anyone looking for fun and adventure to create incredible memories while living alcohol-free. Reading We are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen can quite possibly save your life. Eventually saved by her family, King writes with equal parts sensitivity and humor about redemption and compassion for others.

Drink: The Intimate Relationship between Women and Alcohol by Ann Dowsett Johnston

The various accidental similarities between these books began, before long, to harden into a blueprint, which countless books have faithfully reproduced. Most are forgettable and forgotten, but some accomplished authors—like Caroline Knapp and Sarah Hepola—have created very good books by bringing real skill to the standard formula. I will read anything Clare Pooley writes simply because she is a magical storyteller. The Sober Diaries is one of the best books in the quit lit category. Funny, informative, and authentic, Poole has a welcoming light-hearted voice on the very serious topic of substance use. This book serves as a beacon to anyone who’s looking to change their relationship with alcohol.

Sarah invites us to ride shotgun as she attempts (and sometimes fails) to become a person who stops hiding behind alcohol and actually deals with her life. We drink to avoid boredom, the end of things, and our own failures. After reading this book, you will feel empowered and better equipped for the task ahead. Annie’s book offers a great mix of practical advice and scientific research, which I’ve always found helpful.

“Blackout” by Sarah Hepola

Helen ultimately escapes her marriage and pretends to be a widow, earning a living as an artist to care for herself and her young son. The book was so upsetting to her sister Charlotte that, after Anne’s death she passed on the chance to have it reprinted, and the book was neglected for a really long time. Today it is widely considered to be a landmark in early feminist literature, but its frank depictions of addiction within marriage are just as deserving of acclaim.

Despite being published less than a year ago, Jamison’s memoir is a gritty and honest must-read. Knapp’s powerful, emotional memoir is a classic and it’s one that opened a lot of doors to women coming out and being open about addiction and high functioning addiction. Her memoir shares her life experiences, getting clean, and her drive to make it through anyway – which can be a powerful and inspirational read for anyone facing alcoholism themselves. Yes, that’s Alison Bechdel of the now-ubiquitous pop culture-assessing Bechdel test. Her 2006 memoir takes the form of a graphic novel, charting her upbringing in rural Pennsylvania as the daughter of a funeral director. Central to the book is the story of Bechdel’s journey toward coming out as a lesbian in her late teens, as well as an exploration of her complex relationship with her father, who remained closeted until his untimely death.

Alcohol does not relieve stress; it erases your senses and your ability to think. Are you flirting with the idea of taking a break from alcohol? Or maybe it’s time to quit for good, but the thought freaks you out, and heroin addiction you don’t know where to start. Much like books by Catherine Gray, Holly Whitaker’s Quit Like A Woman is a favorite of many of the experts who have gone through the process of giving up drinking or cutting back themselves. Here, Nikki shares the diary entries—some poetic, some scatterbrained, some bizarre—of those dark times. Joining him are Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Slash, Rick Nielsen, Bob Rock, and a host of ex-managers, ex-lovers, and more.