No, I don’t mean your book-reading addiction. These self-help books will help you combat your addiction and vices. With the new year ringing its way through our ears, it is time to take charge of your habits and finally put them to bed. No matter what your dependency may be, these books can help by giving you tools to battle addiction and the support that you can do it.
Trigger warning: Some topics discussed in the following books may not be suitable for all audiences.
Addiction is nothing to take lightly. If you’ve ever felt at the mercy of something else, you might have been an addict. It grips you in its long and gross fingers, loosening its grip with every drip of addiction you feed it, only to tighten back up when it needs another fix. The first step is realizing you are caught in those dreadful hands and planning your rewarding escape.
I Shall Be Clean: Self-help Book for Addiction by Linda Mather
This book is written from the perspective of a therapist who specializes in couples and family behavior. The author explains that any person can become addicted to drugs and it is not something to be ashamed of. It is difficult to stop using once you are stuck in a drug-taking rut and you cannot pause the continuous loop. You need to be motivated, have the willpower to stop, and want to stop for yourself and not because other people want you to quit. Linda Mather does an excellent job at deep-diving into the importance of keeping your motivation during your time of recovery.
The Urge: Our History of Addiction by Carl Erik Fisher
A psychiatrist fresh out of school found himself facing an addiction crisis that almost cost him everything. Unsure what to do, he turned to the history of addiction in an attempt to make sense of what was happening to himself. By examining addiction and treatments through history, the book offers strategies to produce relief for those suffering from addiction.
ALCOHOL And YOU: How to Quit Binge, Self Help to Drinking Addiction Recovery by William Hudson
This is a helpful book for those wishing to step away from alcohol. Hudson explains that positive core beliefs are crucial to battling addiction and help provide actions to take on your road to recovery. With alcohol being a common vice, this book will offer steps to help by showing you to believe in yourself and to use your subconscious as a tool instead of it using you to feed its addiction.
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff
A story about a father watching his son suffer from addiction. He remembers his son as a charming and cheery boy who was always full of joy. Previously a varsity athlete and honor student and loved by his younger siblings, his son was once a different person. But when meth took hold of him, the father noticed his son changing into someone he could hardly recognize. He worried for the boy’s life, even becoming addicted to helping his son as much as he could. This is a powerful memoir that might hit close to home or give a different perspective on addiction.
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
An investigation into a scientific revolution around psychedelic drugs. Not a psychedelic drug addiction, but how psychedelics can help people who struggle with depression, anxiety, and drug dependency. This book dives into different states of consciousness and brain science, as well as debunking the early myths that psychedelics are unhelpful and dangerous.
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