I had to read this book in small doses because it was so intense. Through reading this book I came to better understand myself, my body’s physical reactions, and my https://ecosoberhouse.com/ mental health. It’s a tough book to read due to the descriptions of horrific traumas people have experienced, however it’s inspirational in its message of hope.

• Sometimes, a slow realization of enough being enough is all it takes to start your recovery.
• Horrified and enthralled, we see the world through Clegg’s increasingly despairing gaze—and a part of us longs as much as he does for another fix to provide some relief from the horror.
• Then I told myself it was because I was a journalist working the night shift.
• A captivating story of a highly accomplished well-known professional in the spotlight who was brave enough to share her story.
• 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.

There’s a long, beautiful history of writers chronicling how they’ve dealt with alcoholism and addiction. Sometimes the best way to understand mental illness or addiction is through the eyes of someone who lived it. 1author pickedWoman of Substancesas one of their favorite books, and they sharewhy you should read it. best alcoholic memoirs 3authors pickedGirl Walks Out of a Baras one of their favorite books, and they sharewhy you should read it. 6authors pickedDrinkingas one of their favorite books, and they sharewhy you should read it. 1author pickedI Swear I’ll Make It Up to Youas one of their favorite books, and they sharewhy you should read it.

Louise Foxcroft on The History of Medicine and Addiction

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. When I stopped drinking alcohol, I was desperate to know the stories of other people who’d also taken this road less traveled. During the most unsettling time of my life, I craved all the messy, tragic, complex, wonderful stories that could show me what was on the other side.

• Where the story they have to tell echoes others, they let us hear that echo.
• Beyond being informative, this powerful book has helped countless people dive deeper into their relationship with alcohol and make positive changes in their lives.
• Unexplained men and bruises the next morning are only a few of the unremembered experiences Sarah Hepola recalls in this honest, raw, poignant memoir.
• 1author pickedI Swear I’ll Make It Up to Youas one of their favorite books, and they sharewhy you should read it.
• Winning career accolades by day and drinking at night, Knapp brings you to the netherworld of alcohol use disorder.

She shares her personal lifelong struggle with anxiety, which led to excessive substance use, rehab, and her ultimate triumph into recovery. After finishing A Happier Hour, the bar was set high for future reads (no pun intended). Weller has a relatable story for any high-achiever who finds themselves with boozy, foggy evenings that turn into hangovers the next morning. Written with raw vulnerability, the pages of this book are filled with an honest look at her own relationship to alcohol. Reading this book was the beginning of a new perspective for me. It got me thinking the one thing I never wanted to be true… maybe it is the alcohol that’s making me so miserable?

“Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol” by Ann Dowsett Johnston

Whereas my progress was from religion to addiction, Mary Karr’s was the other way around. But though our world-views are in some ways profoundly different, few books have enriched me as a reader and a person more than hers. These pages are filled with the teachings of ancient Stoics such as Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that believes self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom are the keys to happiness.

Karr arrived with a unique literary voice that combined rich Texan and burst of lyricism. And she had an almost miraculous ability to portray her broken family with wit and love, without ever flinching from pain. 2000’s Cherry picked up the story by showing Karr as an adolescent, already dabbling with drugs and profoundly lacking any sense of belonging. Although I think they can all be considered addiction memoirs, and share a familial resemblance with other examples of that form, none of them feel remotely imprisoned by its conventions. And yet—even though each of these books goes its own way, never hesitating to flout a trope or trample a norm to serve its story—they don’t go in terror of the conventions either. Where the story they have to tell echoes others, they let us hear that echo.

The best memoirs of drug and alcohol addiction

It’s a witty, straightforward tale of the shenanigans, shame, and confusion that occurs in the morning-afters. Sarah also explores how alcohol affected her relationships with her friends, family, and even her cat. The ones who can make it to the other side of addiction gain an enriched, rare perspective on life that they never could’ve had otherwise.

Despite being published less than a year ago, Jamison’s memoir is a gritty and honest must-read. If you’re looking to break free of the social pressure of cocktails and bar hopping, this is the book for you. A stunning debut novel about a short but intense friendship between two girls that ends in tragedy, Marlena pinpoints both what it feels like to be the addict and what it’s like to be the friend of one. 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. This is a self-help book by a licensed therapist that braids together anonymized client stories, personal narrative, psychological tools, and brain research.

Woman of Substances: A Journey Into Drugs, Alcohol and Treatment

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. 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 biography dies—is the answer simple. In other kinds, as in novels, endings are artifices of form, and the trick is not to let this feel true for the reader.