A hopeful, inspiring story, “Beautiful Boy” has the power to show anyone dealing with addiction that they are not alone. Told from a father’s perspective, it paints a portrait of what it’s like for parents to see a child struggle with substance abuse. The author asks himself what he did wrong, how his son could end up as a meth addict, and what he can do do save him. The book is full of compelling anecdotes, and powerful insights.

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At her lowest point, Jenkins finds herself being arrested by officers who are also her friends. Her four months in jail serve as the starting point to her eventual recovery. High Achiever is a mind-spinning memoir of how quickly things go wrong and how much hard work it takes to set things right. Books about addiction include heartbreaking moments of struggle and dependency. Yet they’re also accounts of resiliency and renewal, introducing you to brave men and women who found the strength to save themselves when all hope seemed lost. Here are 11 new narratives of addiction and recovery that we recommend you read.

Learn from Those Who’ve Been There

Through our integrated treatment programs, we’ve helped thousands of people choose recovery over addiction and get back to life on their own terms. We’re on a mission to save one million lives over the next century. We encourage all those struggling with substance use to seek professional help.

Profound Books on Drug Addiction & Recovery

• Being told to change can feel belittling and demeaning, especially when what you’re struggling with is more than just strategic planning.
• One of the most common mistakes mothers and fathers of children with substance abuse problems make is forgetting about their own well-being and recovery.
• Describing an emotional roller coaster, author Amanda Andruzzi wrote her “Hope Street” memoir to provide insight into what it’s like to live with an addict and be a co-addict.
• Reading makes internalizing the process of recovery easier than trying to create your own mental framework for a new life.

In the end, this is a memoir about a frightening journey that inspirationally ends in her finding the courage and strength to overcome the issues and leaves the past in the past. We decided to include “Recovery and Renewal” by Baylissa Frederick in our reading list of books related to drug addiction, because the issue of dependency and withdrawal from prescription drugs is a big one. Based on Fisher’s hugely successful one-woman show, Wishful Drinking is the story of growing up in Hollywood royalty, battling addiction, and dealing with manic depression. Her first memoir is an inside look at her famous parents’ marriage and her own tumultuous love affairs (including her on-again, off-again relationship with Paul Simon). Most notably, it’s a brutally honest — and hilarious — reflection on the late writer’s path to sobriety.

Good books allow readers to connect with characters and develop an understanding that can be used in their recovery journey. Barbara L. Wood addresses strategies for raising healthy children in families with an alcoholic parent. “Raising Healthy Children in an Alcoholic Home” can be useful in many practical ways, as the author treats this subjects with empathy and a vast clinical understanding. The book offers a clear and sensible guidance on how to protect children from the harms caused by parental alcoholism. We recommend it to parents who are raising children in a family that deals with alcoholism, as well as to counselors, therapists, and healthcare professionals that are working with families struck by this issue.

• Self-help books are yet another device that can support your efforts.
• “It Takes a Family” describes an approach families can take to supporting addicted loved ones.
• It brings together narratives from patients in treatment with neuroscience research to describe how addiction hijacks brain functions.
• Exploring the thoughts of an addict and a life unraveled by narcotics, this memoir spans the author’s struggles with opioid use disorder, to her time in jail, and ultimately to her recovery.
• His first full-length memoir follows him from a seemingly endless rock bottom to a passion for running that leads him out of a life of self-destruction and chaos.
• Joseph Naus beats the odds by overcoming a difficult childhood and becoming a successful civil trial lawyer.

Written by Michael Pond and Maureen Palmer, “The Couch Of Willingness” testifies that addiction is a disorder that does not discriminate. Michael, a respected and successful man with a beautiful family, finds he can no longer cope with the pressure after two decades of helping patients with addiction. This book can help anyone who is struggling with alcohol problems relate to similar experiences, learn more on the nature of addiction, gather information, seek help and stay sober. “A Sober Mom’s Guide to Recovery” provides advice for mothers recovering from addiction, covering 50 topics from stress to relapse, dating to parenting. I’ve read dozens of books on addiction, treatment, and self-help. Believe me when I say that this book is unlike any of the others I’ve read.

Terry Hurley is a retired educational professional and freelance writer with more than fifty years of experience. A former reading specialist and learning center director, Terry loved her years working with children in the educational field. She has written extensively for print and online publications specializing in education and health issues. For the last six years, her writing focus has been on addiction and mental health issues.

Prior to getting sober, memoir author Sarah Hepola often drank until she blacked out. Blackout reveals how sobriety helped her discover the confidence, intimacy, and creativity within her—all of which she previously thought could only be found at the bottom of a bottle. Kalev best alcoholic memoirs Rudolph is an educator, artist, and writer for the life insurance comparison site, QuickQuote.com. Their work focuses primarily on early childhood development and queer theory. With Honors in Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Southern California.

Written by experts at the Center for Motivation and Change, Beyond Addiction is a truly unique guide for people who are dealing with a loved one’s substance use disorder. This isn’t another tough love book that tells you to get your loved one into rehab and totally detach from them. Instead it teaches you how you can play an active, important role in affecting change in your loved one, by using—are you ready for this? It also stresses the importance of self-care, which is so often overlooked by those who are trying to help a loved one in the throes of addiction. I wish this book had been around when my wife and I were trying to figure out how to handle our son’s addiction. In “Being Sober,” you benefit from author Harry Haroutounian’s expertise at the forefront of recovery and addiction treatment.

• Admitting to addiction is a self-journey that can sometimes make you feel shameful and guilty, but books, even for nonreaders, can be what propels a journey forward.
• If you are interested in rationally observing the minds of addicts, this book is for you.
• We can’t recommend this book strongly enough, especially if you have tried and failed to stop using drinks or drugs in the past.
• It is made for people actively in therapy and covers everything from relapse prevention to monitoring progress.

Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story Remaking Life from Scratch

He even went on Oprah and apologized for making some of the story up. Don’t let the fact vs fiction debate over this book put you off. Frey continues to write fiction and remains in committed recovery. A book about relationship dependency, co-authored by Dr. Gregory L. Jantz and Dr. Tim Clinton that aims to help relationship addicts recognize their unhealthy patterns and break the cycle of relationship dependency. “Women and Problem Gambling” covers several aspects of the problem, starting from the role of the gambling industry, the role of society, as well as the relationships of women with themselves and with others.