A valuable, holistic approach to treating addiction by addressing trauma.
A psychotherapist and educator reframes addiction and discusses treatment.
In this self-help book, Marks draws on both her work in therapy and counseling and her own experiences of addiction to offer a new perspective on the causes and treatments of the condition. The work takes its title from the iconic maze used in lab experiments with rodents, and it contends that all people dealing with addiction are stuck in it. The author’s central argument is that all forms of addiction are essentially the same, although they are often considered different for diagnostic purposes, and that a fragmented system of mental and physical health care often does more harm than good. This system treats symptoms without curing the underlying problems, leaving patients unable to ultimately overcome their addictions. Marks writes that addiction is a response to an underlying trauma that has not been dealt with—for instance, abuse or neglect in childhood. In order to be cured, patients need to work through the initial trauma and establish healthy emotional patterns that allow them to stop reacting in harmful ways, breaking the cycle of addictive behavior. The author’s framework for recovery draws heavily on Helen Schucman’s A Course in Miracles (1975), which Marks credits with helping her manage her own marijuana and alcohol addictions. Each chapter of Marks’ manual includes a series of questions designed to guide readers through the process of understanding their addictive behaviors, analyzing the fundamental causes, and developing strategies for healing and recovery. The author is a solid writer whose narrative is simple and easy to follow (“I want to change your perception of addiction from something wrong with you to something that’s wrong with our conditioning”), and her key argument is a convincing one. She addresses the use of medication in treating addiction along with the challenges presented by mood disorders, which complicate the recovery plan. The book makes a plausible case for bringing structural changes to the treatment of addiction, with specific recommendations on a policy level that complement the primary focus on individual recovery and healing.
A valuable, holistic approach to treating addiction by addressing trauma.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-59545-0
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Westward Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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