Customer Reviews

THE ALCOHOLISM AND ADDICTION CURE: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

The story that the son, Pax, wrote about his addiction and recovery was great. It rang brutally true. I was into the book and ready to see how they could translate their $50,000/month Malibu treatment plan to the masses. The answer? They can't. They recommend hiring a western medical doctor, a clinical pyschologist, a massage therapist, a nutrionist, an acupuncturist, a hypnotist, and a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine as the minimum "holistic treatment team". They recommend going to clinical pyschologist at least 3 times/week. During a question/answer part of the book, it was asked "What if I can't afford all of this?" The answer? Ask to be treated for free. Tell them that they'd be part of a "Passages model team".

Okay...

My HMO pays for 10 counseling sessions per year with a social worker. And the copay for that is $40 per visit. Somehow I don't think I'm going to be able to assemble this psychological dream team without a load of cash and a lot of free time.

Oh, and what should you do if your dream team doesn't live in your small town? MOVE to a big city (just for a month).

I'm not a big fan of AA and their dogmatic religiosity, but at least they're free and close by!

Do not expect too much help with your addiction from reading this book. While there were some worthwhile, warmed over insights this book is essentially a lengthy promotion for their in-patient recovery program costing tens of thousands of dollars. There is nothing in the book that helps you get unhooked from your addiction without their clinic and/or a myriad of experts trained in their methodology. If you visit their web site they have quite an array of goods for sale to "assist" in your recovery. This is a product mill, for sure. Lot's of promise, no delivery.

This book is a 300+ page advertisement for the author's treatment center.
Few if any could afford to hire the staff they recommend to complete the program

First of all, I want you to know that I did try to write a "patient review" for the actual "treatment center" website, however it was never posted. So I decided rather than trying to beat that dead horse that I'd try my luck here.

Someone gave me this book a couple years ago, I fell for it, and entered the program. I thought the book was supposed to teach me how to stay sober. But no, it just leads those who are so desperate to get better into their trap, much like a cult recruits it's members. When I finally called someone there out on it, I was asked then what the difference was between their program and AA? I told them that AA didn't ask for money (if you can afford to put in a dollar at a meeting to help with the overhead, great; if not, no worries). I told them that AA doesn't advertise or recruit memebers (it's about "attraction, not promotion"). I told them that once at a meeting, AA does not use deceptive means to keep us there (AA has free literature that offers suggestions only which do not involve turning your money over to anyone; it also doesn't say anywhere that the ONLY way you can stay sober is if you follow AA's twelve steps). I was asked to leave. Go figure.

The techiniques that this book touts are complete BS if you ask me. Like many addicts and alcoholics, we are always looking for the easier way out. That's why people like me fall for this BS. We don't want to do the real hard work of being brutally honest with ourselves and others. We don't want to stop drinking and using. We don't want to admit we're alcoholics and addicts. (Ironically, in doing so, that's where we find the courage and strength to get sober. Not by continuing to deny it for the sake of ego.)

I had been sober 28 years before relapsing in the wake of my husband and son's tragic and sudden death. I was so ashamed at my relapse that I did not want to go back to the meetings I had gone to for 28 years and say that I'd failed. See? Ego.

So a well-meaning friend at work (who did not understand the nature of addiction) gave me this book and I thought to myself, what the hell? This way I don't have to face anyone in my meetings with my failure. What I didn't take into consideration was that would mean walking away from the people and the program that allowed me to get healthy in the first place, to meet and marry a wonderful sober man who did not hurt me or abuse me or tear me down (like all previous relationships I had while drinking and using), and have a beautiful son who was about to graduate from Harvard Medical School. But when both my husband and son were killed by a drunk driver picking up a pizza for dinner, all that gratitude for and understanding of what made my life so worthy over the last 28 years went out the window in my grief. And then my ego came back and wouldn't allow me to reach out for help, or accept the help of the very people who had lifted me up in the first place.

I don't mean to get into my "story" here, but what I guess I'm really trying to tell you is that there's no easy way out. But there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who will tell you there are if you just do what they say. I'm not saying "rehab programs" don't work. I, in fact, went to a fabulous rehab in Malibu when I got sober. And it was actually in Malibu (along with many succesful rehab programs which don't include "Passages Malibu" which, by the way, isn't even in Malibu! Gosh, I wonder why they would call themselves that then?), that I got sober. I've also volunteered at many rehabs in Southern LA over the years and what I've found is, that while none of them teach "AA", they do encourage using AA's twelve steps as they are a PROVEN and time-tested means of staying sober if you are honest about doing them (AA is not a treatment program, it's a non-profit organization offers free meetings around the world in which alcoholics get together and help one another stay sober through sharing and fellowship; it does not advertise and it relies solely on word-of-mouth; there are no CEOs, nor is there any AA hierarchy; every worker is a volunteer and all monies go to cover overhead, free literature, temporary housing, free meals, etc. for both recovering alcoholics and those who still suffer); and everyone has just as much a right to be there as the next guy - members and volunteers - as long as they want to be sober; no one is required to pay money, nor are they told they must go out and recruit others - again, it's attraction, not promotion that makes it work). To suggest, as the book does, that you don't need AA to stay sober, well, that is true. There is no scientific evidence that AA will make and keep anyone sober. But to disregard the millions of success stories of the people around the world who have gotten and maintained thier sobriety to by "working" an honest AA program, or those who have gotten and maintained their sobriety, relapsed, but got back on the AA saddle again (as I did), is doing a real disservice to humanity in the name of making big bucks off the vulnerable people who are simply afraid of what AA does require in order to begin the twelve steps - which is to "admit your powerless over alcohol and that your life has become unmanagable". Who wants to admit defeat? But it's simply an admission. But an empowering admission to anyone who is truly ready to get sober. It empowers them to do what they never thought they would ever to next, which is to admit they are not in charge, that a higher power is (and that doesn't have to be God), and turn over their will and their lives to that higher power. Scary, but oh so empowering (ironic, I know!).

Sure, there a lots of things we can do to keep ourselves sober today, and the next, and maybe even the next. But why take the word of someone who uses manipulation in order to get you to sign up for their mega-bucks "treatment program", when AA's twelve steps are free? And time-proven if you work the steps honestly. You really think that if you spend $50K, that'll make you more honest? Think about all those times you spent money on health clubs telling yourself that if you spend the money you'll use it. It's called denial, folks.

Please don't even tempt yourself to listen to their plan by buying this book (or reading it if it's a gift!). There's no fellowship after their program. There's no built-in support group wherever you go around the world (I go to Puerto Vallarta every year and go to an AA meeting in an old movie theatre where both locals and tourists go everyday to help one another stay sober in the land of swim-up bars!). I've been to meetings in Milan, New Zealand, Australia, London, small towns in Iowa, Montana, NYC, the Hamptons. I've made friends all over the world because of this fellowship, friends who get what it's like to be an addict. Friends who remind me on a daily basis that it's a day at a time and that every day is a new day. That sobriety is fun, and it allows me to do things like travel and not miss my plane because I'm falling down drunk in the airport bar. I can travel and not wind up in scary situations anymore. I can travel and not lose my luggage, my hotel keys, my moeny, my passport, my dignity. This is what I get because of AA, the fellowship, and the confidence that even though it may be hard sometimes, that as long as I am honest with myself and others, I will stay sober.

So I suggest stopping by your local AA home office and asking for the Big Book, the Twelve and Twelve, and a local meeting guide. They're only a couple bucks and if you can't afford them, no worries. And the thing is, there's no committment. You don't have to do anything. You don't owe anyone anything. Except yourself. When you're ready.

I suspect that this book will resonate for some people and not others. If it resonates for someone, then I think that's great. One takes help where one finds it.

For me, though, this book reads like new-agey warmed over 12 step, plus vitamins, acupuncture and massage. I don't see any basis for Passage's claims of being the most successful treatment program in the US; it looks to me as if they do the same thing that 12 step rehabs do--they measure their success by counting only the clients who are successful. You can come up with a great number when you say "it works for all the people it works for." What I want to know is if a person walks in the front door, how likely is it that person is sober a couple of years later? But they never tell you THAT number!

I also have to say that I was not terribly moved by all the angst-riddled material about Pax Prentiss's addiction. It's not that I don't think his situation was horrible, it's just that it's not unique. Every one of us who has been addicted or has had an addicted family member knows the drill, knows how bad it gets and how frustrating it is, and it gets old. If I wanted to hear a drunkalog I could go to an AA meeting and hear one any day of the week...C'mon.

I am a Licensed Psychologist with expertise in Substance Abuse and Mental Illness. I am not bias in any way for or against the book. However, it is not very scientific and sound. The author makes very contradictory statements. He allows his son, Pax, to write about when he was in the throes of his addiction. Pax's 10 years of active addiction underscores that it is a disease and that you are powerless without intervention. The author goes on to say that addiction is not a "brain" disease. But, his son's behavior said otherwise. In addition, the author acknowledges that one cannot drink or drug again, once "cured." How does this differ from addiction being a disease? Semantics? The author doesn't believe in the saying," once an addict, always an addict." However, the notion that once you've been addicted, you cannot use the drug or substance again, implies the same thing.

I agree that underlying issues maintain addictions. I am a proponent of Dual Diagnosis. However, that does not negate the fact that once the individual has crossed over to addiction, the brain has been altered (for most, permanently). The recovery process should consist of symptom reduction as well as exploration of underlying issues.

I did not find this book to be research based or helpful. Maybe for a layman, unfamiliar with the field of substance abuse or mental health, this book could be found innovative and useful. The most interesting chapter was Pax's chapter as he underscored the "disease of addiction."

How can you "cure" what is NOT a disease?!? I tried holistic, psychological, religious and "behavior mod" attempts to get sober for 8 years!!! They nearly killed me! Until I accepted that I could not accurately and consistently predict the outcome of any "drinking episode" (ie I am powerless...) I continued to attempt to control my drinking. Accepting my condition enabled me to begin to deal with it effectively. I have 22 years sober! This is a fancy book to sell a $50,000.00 a month TREATMENT program that is NOT based on the latest research! Do not be fooled by good marketing, hype and drummed up controversy!

I AM AN ADDICT.... AND I UNDERSTAND TRYING TO FIND THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF MY USING DRUGS. BUT I ALSO BELIEVE THAT THIS BOOK WAS A COMMERCIAL FOR PASSAGES (WHEN I CALLED THEY TOLD ME TO COME UP WITH 68,000 DOLLARS). I CAN'T EVEN AFFORD ALL OF THE COUNSELORS AND HOLISTIC PRACTITIONERS THEY ADVISE I USE. HOW COULD I AFFORD TO GO FOR 30 DAYS TO A PROGRAM THAT MAY OR MAY NOT WORK. WHEN I GOT TO THE CHAPTER OF THE BOOK THAT TOLD ME TO GET ALL OF THOSE DIFFERENT DOCTORS, I WAS HEARTBROKEN. BECAUSE OF THE TITLE OF THE BOOK, I HAD SUCH HIGH HOPES, BECAUSE I THOUGHT THIS WAS IT, THIS WAS THE ONE THING THAT WOULD HELP ME GET OVER MY ADDICTION FINALLY. BUT AS EVERYTHING ELSE I'VE TRIED IT FAILED ALSO. I AM GOING TO TRY THE ACCUPUNCTURE AND MY MEDICAL DOCTOR IS WEANING ME OFF OF OXYCONTIN RIGHT NOW. BUT THAT IS MY PLAN. I PRAY AND PRAY AND PRAY THAT IT WORKS. MY FAITH IN GOD IS WHAT WILL PULL ME THROUGH THIS, I KNOW IT. THE ONE THING IN HIS BOOK I TOTALLY AGREE WITH IS THAT EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE.. GOOD OR BAD ALL WORKS TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD. EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE, EVEN BEING ADDICTED TO DRUGS, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I AM LEARNING A LIFE LESSON. AND THAT IS A GIFT FROM THE LORD.

This book is a scam, the author does not delivered the name of the book, it tells you to go to one of their rehab centers, I bought it and I feel a fool for believing about this book, there is nothing that teach you about curing yourself, it tells you to go to a rehab center, you don't need to buy this garbage book to know that. I wish they would take this scam book off the market.

As a talk show host I am accustom to being inundated with requests from PR folks trying to get me to book their particular client on my show to plug their book. Since I didn't like my current events show to be a blatant advertisement for a writer, I generally delete these types of solicitation ...25 times a day. In fact I had hit delete on the email regarding Chris Prentiss's book just as my eye caught a phrase and I had to actually retrieve the message. It was the cure rate of better than 80% that got my attention, and triggered my skepticism...along with a tiny sliver of hope since I knew how many times friends and members of my own family had fallen off the wagon. I booked Chris for 15 minutes and they sent me the book. A few days beforehand I thought I better skim the book so I could ask him some tough questions. I read the entire book and called the pr representative back and booked Chris for the entire show. I think what hooked me was Chris's comment about observing an AA meeting where people were `white knuckling their way through sobriety". Controversial statement. And true for too many. The book was specific about the path. Find the underlying cause(s). Work on that. The true story of his son's journey was engaging and encouraging. For weeks and months after the show I received emails and phone calls from listeners: "What was the name of that guy again? What's the name of his book?" Of all the shows and topics I have covered in 17 years on air, I have never received such a response.