Books That Empower Opiate Addiction Recovery
If you’re running your own opiate detox through an outpatient program like Suboxone or methadone, you are left to your own devices when it comes to the psychological aspect of your drug use and addiction. Reading is a great way to pass the time, and it can help you learn more about your addiction and yourself in the process. Check out some of the books below.
Autobiographies by Opiate Addicts
Do you sometimes feel like you’re going through this alone? Well there are a ton of books out there written by people just like you who have been where you were and are. Who knows. Maybe you’ll be inspired to pen your own memoir.
* The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx
* How to Stop Time: Heroin from A to Z by Ann Marlowe
* A Small Journal of Heroin Addiction by Robin Marchesi
Fiction That Focuses on Opiate Addicts and Addiction
If nothing else, drug addiction provides an escape from the chaos of everyday life and the hammering of your own thoughts. It’s not quite the same, but books can do that for you, too, especially really well written fiction. I’ve picked out a few novels that tell the stories of addicts and addiction, in case you need a reminder of why you quit using in the first place.
* Smack by Melvin Burgess
* Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction by Luke Davies
* Beauty Queen by Linda Glovach
* Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
History of Opiates and Opiate Addiction
Oh, the endless debate about the origins of different drugs, drug legislation, drug usage, etc. Drug lore in general is, for some reason, an intoxicating aspect of drug use. Get the facts with any of the titles below.
* Medicating Modern America: Prescription Drugs in History by Andrea Tone and Elizabeth Watkins
* Dark Paradise: A History of Opiate Addiction in America by David T. Courtwright
* The History of Drugs - Opiates by Nancy Harris
About Opiate Addiction
Even more about addiction and the drugs we are addicted to, with a little bit of personal commentary by the author. Interesting viewpoints. Check it out:
* Heroin by Humberto Fernandez
* Prescription Drug Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic by Rod Colvin
* Addiction by Prescription by Joan E Gadsby
Interactive Books for Opiate Addicts in Recovery
If you’re looking for something a little more interactive, you might prefer a workbook type of book, one that guides you through your recovery and prompts you to dig deep and really get to the bottom of your addiction issues. Here are a couple you might be interested in:
* Overcoming Prescription Drug Addiction: A Guide to Coping and Understanding by Rod Colvin
* How to Quit Drugs for Good: A Complete Self-Help Guide by Jerry Dorsman
Anyone have any favorites they’d like to add to the list?
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May 16th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Just wondering if you have a site for people that are on suboxone to voice their positive opinions in regards to how great the medication works. I have been taking suboxone for a couple of years and would like to share some of my story. Please let me know?
May 18th, 2008 at 10:27 am
This book, “Alive!” isn’t specifically about opiate addiction, but it does talk about redemption, love and forgiveness. The author, Eileen DeClemente, is a recovering alcoholic (also abused drugs) and is now suffering from alcohol-induced dementia. She talks about her lost childhood and how she chose to escape it — obviously, in really horrible ways. But she also talks about how her family has stuggled and continues to get through every situation — and how forgiveness has been the saving grace of her family.
Really powerful stuff.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Thanks, Elizabeth!
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:48 am
recovering from drug addiction is really a difficult process. if you just do it on your own without any consultation from the experts who has been handling any kind of drug addiction, still isn’t sure if you’re really fully recovered.
not all cases of drug addiction are the same, thus, the patient should undergo evaluation.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
The Alcoholism and Addiciton Cure by Chris Prentiss shines a pretty different light on addictions - specifically saying that there are underlying reasons people use, and if you can pinpoint that reason, it will help you move past it. He writes from the perspective of father of an addict (his son Pax used heroin etc for 10 years) and he now has started a recovery program. I found it to be a different approach to everything I had ever read and appreciated his candor.