The Alcoholic Family in Recovery: A Developmental Model [Hardcover]

Stephanie Brown (Author), Virginia Lewis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572304022 | ISBN-13: 978-1572304024 | Publication Date: December 25, 1998 | Edition: 1

Family relationships change dramatically when one or more members stops drinking. Far from offering a "quick fix" to family problems, in fact, the first years of sobriety are often marked by continuing tension that fuels marital stress, acting-out kids, and difficulties at work. This book explores the process of recovery from addiction as it affects the entire family, presenting an innovative model for understanding and treating families navigating this difficult period. The authors draw upon extensive clinical and research experience to demonstrate how families can be helped to regroup after abstinence, weather periods of emotional upheaval, and find their way to establishing a more stable, yet flexible, family system.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'[The authors] present a well-developed model of alcoholism recovery, refined through their many years of clinical experience with alcoholic families and adult children of alcoholics, and they illustrate its implications for therapeutic strategies with a rich variety of case histories ... This very careful and comprehensive exposition of the developmental model of recovery and its application to clinical situations should be useful and instructive for therapists and clinical students.' - Addiction

'Well organized and clearly written ...The strength of this book lies in the authors' stating early and often their biases and beliefs regarding alcoholism and the path of family recovery.' - Journal of Family Psychotherapy

From the Back Cover

A major contribution....For years, there has been talk of the family disease' without a comprehensive model for family treatment. Brown and Lewis now provide a clear, concise, accessible, clinically sound, theoretically based, and much-needed map for working with families (Stephanie Covington, PhD, LCSW, author of A Woman's Way Through the Twelve Steps)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (December 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572304022
• ISBN-13: 978-1572304024
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Different Perspective on Treatment, July 8, 2005

By 

Enigma - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Alcoholic Family in Recovery: A Developmental Model (Paperback)

As a student working toward my MS in Counseling, I happened upon this book when writing a paper for a class. I was intrigued by the treatment approach taken by this author. Unlike many treatment programs which attempt to plug the holes and make families better, this approach stresses the absolute need for a total collapse of the family system and, indeed, finds it crucial to recovery of both individuals and families. It is within this collapse that the adults turn their attention to their own development and begin the process of individual recovery. This new developmental process takes years, not days or months, and ultimately enables lasting, in-depth change within the family. I highly recommend this book for chemical dependency counselors or family therapists who find themselves keenly frustrated by the low recovery success rates among alcoholics and their families. This book is well on its way to becoming a benchmark for alcoholic treatment.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic In Its Own Time, June 24, 2000

By 

Jonathan Diamond (Shelburne Falls, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alcoholic Family in Recovery: A Developmental Model (Hardcover)

Stephanie Brown, a professional treasure in both the fields of psychotherapy and addiction, has done it again. This thoughful and compassionate volume captures where the field of alcoholism is going. AA, Al-Anon and other 12-step programs have long recognized that addiction is a family "disease" and that families suffering from it require approaches that honor their collective predicament while taking the time to understand the unique struggles that indivdual members face. Altough there have been other attempts--good ones--by therapists to bring a family systems perspective to alcohol and drug problems all have put their theories of helping before the voices of the people their trying to help. This book is the exception. Brown and her colleague Virginia Lewis accomplish this by inviting readers to ignore conventional boundaries that limit conversation and innovation, while challenging us to expand our thinking and practice. Therapists, counselors, as well as people in recovery and their family members will find this book an invaluable companion and guide on their path from pain and addicition to healing and recovery. I Strongly recommend it.--Jonathan Diamond, Ph.D.; author Narrative Means to Sober Ends

5.0 out of 5 stars Story like, Readable, December 20, 2011

By 

Atargatis1492 (Florida USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Alcoholic Family in Recovery: A Developmental Model (Paperback)

If this will be a required read:

The book is a little thick so it takes time to finish reading.
The content is easy to read and understand.
It follows stories from Therapy clients, while some may complain about this, it helps you apply the theories of family recovery into real life settings.