How to Abandon Ship: A Manual for the Recovering Family

Aims at helping families understand what’s going on in the brains of both the practicing addict and the newly recovering addict.  Sheds light on why thinking and judgment are impaired, why both carrots and sticks are falling on deaf ears, why logical reasoning misses its mark, and how to effectively help under these conditions.  I make clear distinctions between actions that support the problem (enabling) and those that support a sustainable solution (as opposed to an illusory and temporary one).  I offer explanations for what drives us to enable, and explain how easy, predictable, and human it is to unconsciously slide back into old self-defeating personal patterns.  A cheat sheet for the family is included that I suggest getting tattooed on the forearm or laminated and kept on your person at all times.