Authors: David Gregson, Jay S. Efran, Jay S. Efran, G. Alan Marlatt
ISBN-13: 9780312242503, ISBN-10: 0312242506
Format: Paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date Published: January 2002
Edition: First Edition
David Gregson is a counselor currently specializing in drug and alcohol misuse issues. He practices at West Coast Alternatives Society with the best crew in all of beautiful British Columbia. Jay S. Efran, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Psychological Services Center at Temple University and has been a therapist for more than thirty years. He has served as President of the Academic Division of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association and is the recipient of several teaching awards. He also presents workshops for psychotherapists and family therapists here and abroad.
A thoughtful, readable, and self-empowering guide for recovery.
Getting and Giving Help In The Tao of Sobriety: Helping You to Recover from Alcohol and Drug Addiction, longtime therapists David Gregson and Jay S. Efran offer a self-help book designed either to work in tandem with 12-step programs or to help addicts get sober without group help. After a brief explanation of Taoism (a Chinese philosophy and religion whose practitioners seek inner peace), the authors present the Tao, a Chinese term meaning "the way," as an ideal vehicle for attaining and maintaining freedom from substance addiction. Replete with anecdotes, exercises (meditations, questions to explore, affirmations) and real-life applications of Taoist precepts (letting go of attachments to guilt and other "self-condemnation" behaviors that lead to substance abuse), this guide uses the firm but gentle approach that is the trademark of many Eastern practices. ( Jan. 18) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Acknowledgments | xi | |
Foreword | 1 | |
Chapter 1 | Introduction | 7 |
A Word About Twelve-Step Programs | 8 | |
What Is the Tao? | 8 | |
Chapter 2 | Alcohol, Drugs, and You | 12 |
Discovery 1 | Innocence in Spirit | 13 |
Aaron's Story | 13 | |
Reality-Altering Substances | 16 | |
More Gain Than Pain | 18 | |
Beyond Alcohol and Drugs | 19 | |
Chapter 3 | I Think, Therefore I Am | 21 |
Odd Insights About Us | 22 | |
Who's the Boss? | 23 | |
Journeying Deeper into Being | 25 | |
A Practical Example | 27 | |
Discovery 2 | Listening to the Internal Conversation | 28 |
Who Are You? | 29 | |
Discovery 3 | The Space That Is You | 29 |
The One and the Other | 30 | |
Higher Math: The One and the Many | 31 | |
Discovery 4 | Discovering Who You Are | 32 |
Who's Got the Power? | 32 | |
Chapter 4 | Managing the Mind | 35 |
Discovery 5 | Enhancing the Manager | 36 |
Biker Stan | 36 | |
Discovery 6 | Making a Commitment | 38 |
Discovery 7 | Mindfulness and Detachment | 41 |
Practice Makes Perfect | 45 | |
Chapter 5 | Conversing with Drugs and Alcohol | 47 |
Discovery 8 | Reflecting on Chemical Substances and You | 48 |
A Proof of Innocence | 51 | |
Discovery 9 | A Heart of Innocence | 52 |
Chapter 6 | Attaining Balance | 60 |
Chapter 7 | Revitalizing Desire | 65 |
Discovery 10 | Identifying Mental Banditos | 67 |
Ted's Story | 70 | |
Chapter 8 | Reexamining Transgressions | 76 |
Discovery 11 | Transgression Inventory | 77 |
Laura's Story | 78 | |
The Hopelessness Monster | 81 | |
David's Story | 81 | |
The Possibility of Possibility | 83 | |
Discovery 12 | Acknowledging Possibility | 83 |
Possibility and Patience | 84 | |
The Pleasures of Irresponsibility | 85 | |
Chapter 9 | Thoughts, Feelings, Actions | 87 |
Knowing More About Your System | 88 | |
Furthering Detachment | 91 | |
Chapter 10 | Practicing Detachment | 95 |
Discovery 13 | An Inch That's Greater Than a Mile | 96 |
David's Bugs | 98 | |
Good Self-Talk | 100 | |
Hacking a New Path | 100 | |
Jack's Story | 101 | |
Discovery 14 | Practicing Self-Talk | 102 |
Chapter 11 | Strengthening Commitment | 104 |
The Hoax of Winning | 107 | |
Taking the Good with the Bad | 110 | |
Discovery 15 | Attack of the Aliens | 112 |
Chapter 12 | Life as Theater | 115 |
Chapter 13 | Revising the Script | 124 |
The Power of Commitment | 127 | |
Discovery 16 | Reflecting on Your Life as a Story | 128 |
Discovery 17 | A Replay with the Manager in Charge | 130 |
Discovery 18 | Self-Beliefs | 133 |
Chapter 14 | Reality and Illusion | 135 |
The Middle Way Revisited | 137 | |
A Real-Life Video Game | 140 | |
Chapter 15 | Plenty of Nothing | 143 |
Discovery 19 | One Is the Loneliest Number | 147 |
Bringing It Home | 149 | |
Chapter 16 | Acceptance: Choosing Life | 151 |
Defining Acceptance | 152 | |
Inclusion and Exclusion | 154 | |
The Acceptance of Suffering | 155 | |
Discovery 20 | Expanding Acceptance | 158 |
Avoiding a Steady State | 162 | |
Chapter 17 | Retracing the Journey | 165 |
The Tao of Sobriety in a Nutshell: A Handy Crib Sheet | 173 | |
References | 175 |