Over the Influence: The Harm Reduction Guide for Managing Drugs and Alcohol
Author: Patt Denning
Twelve-step programs that insist on abstinence are beneficial to many--but what about the millions of Americans who try to quit and fail, just want to cut down, or wish to work toward sobriety gradually? This groundbreaking book presents the Harm Reduction approach, a powerful alternative to traditional treatment that helps users set and meet their own goals for gaining control over drinking and drugs. The expert, empathic authors guide readers to figure out which aspects of their own habits may be harmful, what they would like to change, and how to put their intentions into action while also dealing with problems that stand in the way, such as depression, stress, and relationship conflicts. Based on solid science and 40+ years of combined clinical experience, the book is packed with self-discovery tools, fact sheets, and personal accounts. It puts the reader in the driver's seat with a new and empowering roadmap for change.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Robert Hung, MD, MPH (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: This is a manual written by therapists to decrease the harm done in human relationships with legal or illegal substances. It is based on the premise that drug addiction is not a medical disease or a spiritual weakness but rather a relationship with drugs to meet various human needs.
Purpose: The purpose is to educate others about drugs, human needs, and behavior theories of change; advocate for realistic incremental changes rather than the abstinence model; and to equip drug users and/or their friends and family with references to harm reduction programs, literature, and practical assessments tools such as the drug/set/setting worksheet to evaluate substance use.
Audience: The book is geared towards a broad audience that includes occasional drug users, substance abusers in legal trouble, and the drug dependent who are rejected by 12-step programs or therapists who espouse the disease model with strict abstinence as the road to recovery.
Features: The authors introduce the harm reduction model in chapters 1-3, give an overview of neurotransmitters in chapter 4, and discuss the trans-theoretical model in chapter 5 and hierarchy of needs in chapter 6. Next, 45 pages on drug effects, mechanisms, interactions, and dangers separate the more theoretical from the more practical. Chapters 7 through 11 elaborate on ways of changing drug use, taking care of your emotional life, and seeking help. The book ends with a letter encouraging family and friends of drug users.
Assessment: The book is easy to read and strives to give drug users a more tolerant and self-efficacious way to maintain "health, dignity, and respect." Especially useful are the four case illustrations and the worksheets. Missing is a more in-depth review of the genetic contribution to drug dependency found in twin and family studies.
Library Journal
Traditional substance abuse treatments focus on eliminating the substance of abuse or dependence and then identifying and managing the underlying problems. Harm reduction therapy, however, calls for identifying and managing the underlying problem while maintaining an "acceptable" or functional level of substance use. Therapists Denning, Jeannie Little, and Adina Glickman show readers how to embark on this often laborious process of self-analysis. Using charts, one not only identifies one's drugs of choice but also what advantages and disadvantages those drugs pose physically, emotionally, and socially. Another tool is the "Stages of Change Worksheet"; tracking and recognizing progress is essential, say the authors. Not intended as a quick fix for substance abuse, dependency, or addiction, this self-help text will appeal to many who have tried and failed at traditional therapies or who feel that continued substance use is acceptable for them. Essential for all public and mental health libraries.-Melody Ballard, Washoe Cty. Lib. Syst., Reno, NV Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Rating
3 Stars from Doody
Interesting book: Meals That Heal for Babies and Toddlers or Dr Earl Mindells Unsafe at Any Meal
I Die, but My Memory Lives on: The World AIDS Crisis and the Memory Book Project
Author: Henning Mankell
A powerful, moving and tragic account of the families shattered and children abandoned as a result of the spread of HIV and, through the Memory Books project, a hope for the future.
Henning Mankell is not a public figure in the way that politicians are, nor does he court publicity for himself, but he is one of the most successful authors of our time and has devoted his recent years to work with Aids charities. In I Die, But the Memory Lives On, this master storyteller has written a fable to illustrate the importance of books as a means of education, of preserving memories and of sharing life.
Memory Books is a project through which the HIV-infected parents of today are encouraged to write portraits of their lives and testaments of their love for their orphans of tomorrow. Through a combination of words and drawings they can leave a legacy, a hope that future generations may not suffer the same heartbreaking fate. The publication of this book will raise awareness of this international problem which, though it may not always be on the front pages of our newspapers, must be always on our minds until something has truly changed for the better.
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