30 Powerful Womens Recovery Memoirs to Inspire Your Own Journey

Her father promises her that someday, he will build her a glass castle on the beach. She dreams of this beautiful home, but throughout the years, she and her siblings are homeless and learn to care for themselves while their parents take off for places unknown. She teaches life lessons of resilience, redemption, and forgiveness that have stayed with me for a very long time. This was the first book I read on this subject, and I instantly could relate to her feelings. She made a huge impact on me and is someone I will always be grateful to.

• One of the most profound parts of the movie is when Nic’s father, David, is packing a bag to rescue his son.
• This book explores the next fifteen years of her life, including the various lies that she told herself, and others, about her drug use.
• Regardless of the book you choose, it is always recommended that family members of addicts and alcoholics check out support groups such as Al-Anon, Families Anonymous, and ACOA meetings, along with individual therapy.
• Using her relatable voice, which is equal parts honest and witty, Holly tackles the ways that alcohol companies target women.

We take the stance that not only should the substance user lose their children who are actively addicted, but we also believe families should be equally charged if they knew what was going on and did not do anything to stop it. Professional addiction specialists have mandated reporters, best alcohol recovery books and if we see something, we will say something, especially when we know you won’t. We can not stress enough the importance of doing something when children are being affected. As we said above, if you don’t want to help yourself or the substance user, that is on you.

My Fair Junkie: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean by Amy Dresner

In my own healing, I have even questioned the use of the word “recovery” in this context at all, since it implies a retrieval of something lost. Some new habits and practices have had to be built from the ground up. Hopefully you or a loved one find some inspiration, motivation, and guidance in one or more of these books. At the same time, there are dozens of memoirs written by men and women. You can always look around and find something that speaks to you and read that.

As I read more, story after story, I noticed a pattern, not just in the narrative, but within myself. I would start using my drugs of choice more (sometimes weed, but mostly alcohol), and deepening self-sabotaging behaviors (restricting my eating, self-isolating, and flaking out on important obligations). These stories were supposed to be inspiring, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ but I felt worse after reading them. If only I could make things terrible enough, then I would be worthy of quitting, of redemption, of recovery, of the brilliant promise of the other side. In college, in addition to vodka and more drugs, I also found Buddhist meditation, which helped somewhat with my mental health and feelings of pervasive unease.

Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker

Lamott’s practical writing advice is filled with stories about writing. Because writing is difficult, she shines the light on that elephant in the writing room. When she looked around she couldn’t help but notice that she was very much not alone. Lush explores the ongoing addiction crisis amongst middle-aged females through Cohen’s lenses in a very relatable style. The paperback will be coming out in January 2021 everywhere books are sold, (but preferably from your local, independent bookshop!).

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. Eventually saved by her family, King writes with equal parts sensitivity and humor about redemption and compassion for others. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with problematic substance use.

The Night of the Gun: A reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. His own. by David Carr

Whether you agree or disagree, anything you watch or read by Dr. Gabor Mate is worth it. If you search online, you will find many videos and material by Dr. Gabor Mate. The most widely recognized book on which almost every drug and alcohol treatment center bases its curriculum is the book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Substance users and their families may be the least qualified people to read a self-help book and then go and try and fix a problem themselves. The substance user and their family will most likely read the material through a distorted lens. Keep in mind, too, that whether someone develops addiction depends on many factors, including brain chemistry and genetics.

• Eventually, she runs through a series of nine-to-five jobs, but ultimately, she ends up living behind a dumpster as she descends into crack cocaine use.
• Every book listed so far is a good read for a family of alcoholics.
• A 74-year old Native American found me at ten months in recovery.
• “A Drinking Life,” written 20 years after Hamill took his last drink, explores how drinking in his early years affected his life trajectory.
• Other drugs have their challenges, such as the overdose risks of opioids and the bizarre and insane behaviors resulting from stimulants or methamphetamine use.
• 2009’s Lit is the volume that deals with Karr’s alcoholism and desperate search for recovery.
• At the end of the day, this memoir is a groundbreaking look into our current drinking culture while providing a road map to cut alcohol out of our lives so that we can truly live our best lives.

As we stated above, alcoholics are addicts, and their drug of choice is alcohol. ACOA is a program for children raised in dysfunctional homes primarily due to alcohol and drug use, although they address other concerns relating to abuse, trauma, neglect, etc. ACOA is a 12-step group, and members of ACOA will be around others who can relate and who have gone through similar experiences. If you or a loved one lives with addiction or a less severe substance use disorder, books written by people who’ve experienced similar circumstances can help you feel less alone and remind you that recovery is possible. It may also help to spend some time researching substance use and addiction. Getting accurate information about the signs of addiction can help you better understand the condition and recognize that your loved one isn’t making a choice — they have a serious mental health condition.