Surviving Addiction

While it's tough to understand what leads a person into addiction - to witness someone you love kind-of kill herself - the truth is that you can learn from it. By the time Céline died at age 30, she was Kermit The Frog green and she vomited blood more frequently than she was able to eat. In less than a decade, she had gone from summa cum laude Columbia graduate to NYU PhD student to unemployed, rambling, stumbling drunk saddled with a cirrhotic liver beyond repair.

Introduced to heroine and alcohol for the first time at the tender age of eight-years-old programmed me and opened up a flood gate of feel good receptors in my brain, causing a high that I spent years trying to recreate over and over again.

Her body is thawing, and the smell of death is oozing from her. I want to be sick, but I say nothing. I watch like I was told. Good girls, listen. I want to rub my legs clean; I want a shower. Startled when my mom announced she was done. I finally see. Even though I was watching, I did not truly see. I say nothing. I sit and watch. Wishing for heaven too. Survival is all I can think of, I must do as they say, or I will be next. I am trying to be strong but failing many times. Will I leave the summer alive? will I get to start 8th Grade? I was finally able to tell on my parents. Now I am ...

Sex and pornography addiction are growing problems that devastate the lives of partners as well as sufferers. Sex Addiction: The Partner's Perspective has been written to help partners and those who care about them to survive the shock of discovering their partner is a sex addict and to help them make decisions about the future of their relationships and their lives. First and foremost, it is a practical book, full of facts and self-help exercises to give partners a much-needed sense of stability and control.

Life and relationship coach Sandy Brown's own experience in surviving the betrayal of her husband's porn addiction has inspired her to focus her practice on helping other women to do the same. Through her own recovery and her experience with clients, Sandy has developed a process of recovery to empower women at a time when they feel all is lost. Porn Addict's Wife shows listeners that they are not alone in feeling shattered by their husband's sexual addiction and teaches them how and with whom they can safely share their story.

Actress and author of the courageous New York Times best-selling memoir High on Arrival, Mackenzie Phillips - Hollywood's go-to person on substance abuse and a visible and outspoken advocate for addiction awareness and education - brings her knowledge and voice on the subject of recovery for the first time and shares her experiences for those who are trying to overcome addiction.

Temptation has quickly turned into addiction. Penny Taylor fell hard for the sexy, mysterious, exciting, and dangerous Professor Hunter. But scandalous affairs are meant to go down in flames. Now that he's not speaking to her, she feels numb. And what hurts the most is that he appears to be completely fine. As she struggles to accept that their relationship is really over, her best friend's crude advice is in the back of her mind - the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.

It started innocently enough. Beautiful Harper gave Sean those eyes...those eyes that meant, yes, take me. But Harper didn’t know Sean’s secrets.... She didn’t know that he liked it rough. More than rough. He liked to dominate. To punish. To degrade. It was the only way that the black hole in his soul wouldn’t swallow him up.

Author Brandon Lee is a two-time Emmy winning journalist for his reporting on the opioid crisis. The irony is that Brandon was also a drug addict. Brandon’s trauma, however, started as a child when he was sexually abused by his piano teacher and youth soccer coach...It wasn’t until the age of 37 when he finally got the courage to break his silence about being a sex victim and how that trauma led him down a dark path of sex and drug addiction. Brandon’s mission is to give other addicts hope that they can build a new life they never thought possible.

From Bob Beckel, the popular co-host of The Five on Fox News Channel, a deeply moving, redemptive memoir about his life as a political operative and diplomat, his long struggle with alcohol and drugs, and his unlikely journey to finding faith. Growing up poor in an abusive home, Bob Beckel learned to be a survivor: To avoid conflict, mask his feelings, and to lie - all skills that served him well in Washington, where he would become the youngest-ever Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and manage Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign.

Faith Smith has always had a problem with alcohol. At first, she didn’t believe it was an issue, but slowly, her life begins to unravel. Her job as a teacher hangs in the balance, her marriage begins to crumble, and she realizes that she’s putting her addiction before even her own children. Faith knows she has to do something to regain control of her life. But her demons won’t abandon her so easily.

An alcoholic mother of three children, married, then divorced, then homeless, Patty Tierney lived a double life as a sex worker for 17 years. She looked for love in all the wrong places, saying “I love you” when she was really saying, “Do you love me?” Patty struggled to be the mother she knew her children needed, until she realized that she had become her own mother—the alcoholic mother who had abandoned her when she was five.

This is my story. After a lifetime of trying to help everyone else get their lives together, I have finally figured out how to get mine together. I am now 72 years old, semi-retired from a business I created to help young adults with autism function in the world. I live in Mexico with my loving partner. I have fulfilling relationships with my adult children and grandchildren.

Their lives are so horrible Mack asks Len if they're cursed. When does it end? When do the bad things stop happening and when does the fog of trauma begin to lift? People say it gets better. Does it, though? Mack Kolmann and Leonard Manyhorses are orphans living on the mountain. As they get older, they depend on each other for everything. Tragedy brings them together, but another tragedy separates them for years. Mack comes back from the war and finds Len is gone. He sets out on a journey to find Len and bring him back to the mountain. Is it possible they've shared too much trauma? Has ...

Rich's life is spiraling out of control. Consumed by addiction to alcohol, opioid prescription drugs, and gambling, his attempts to drown out the darkness and reality of a troubled childhood will lead to unimaginable trials for his family. His wife, Sue, struggles to help him, but fears all hope is lost. In an instant, a horrific diagnosis after a sudden traumatic brain injury could end it all.

Addiction is a subject which straddles public and personal interests; societal and criminal justice concerns; and family, social, and medical responses. It is a continuing area of uncertainty and concern for society and professionals trained in the field. This Very Short Introduction presents the basic facts about addiction: what it is, how and why it develops, how it is treated, and how society can respond to it.

It's ten years earlier and the night that changed everything. When Beau Olivier signs a contract that will deliver the first millions of his future fortune, all he wants is to celebrate with a beautiful woman, and no strings attached. He enters Cat Shoppe on the Sunset Strip looking for anyone, but when he sees the kitten-eared girl on the strip club's main stage, he knows he won't leave without her.

Journey to the Center of the Heart is the story of a journey from hell to paradise–and an example of how God is in the business of giving people second chances. From the Tomb of the Sleeper through Daring Dive Rock and finally to Keeping Heart Cove, you’ll find encouragement and hope as you travel with John. The road to this island paradise was far from smooth. After a childhood involving domestic abuse and alcoholism, John quickly broke both of his early vows: never drink alcohol and never get divorced. Two DUIs and two divorces later, he allowed God to change his life’s course and ...

Have you ever felt alone, lost and defeated while you watched your loved one slowly kill themselves with drugs or alcohol? This audiobook is the story of one such experience. You will learn about addiction, alcohol and crystal meth. You will journey through with the author as she is blindsided by her father’s alcohol addiction. You will feel the pain of discovery, the joy of recovery, the heartbreak of loss and in doing so you will find the courage to go on. Interwoven with Kathy Carniero’s personal journey are distressing stories from addicts, inspiring stories of recovery, and life changing advice.

The author of Blessed by the Best: A Memoir by David Kearse, a former journalist (The Baltimore Sun), now writes screenplays, one of which has been optioned by a producer, and has sustained an acting career in Hollywood. Having studied with some of the greats in theater, opera, improvisation, and creativity, he brings what he has learned explicitly to his memoir.