Customer Reviews

Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am so happy to recommend this book!

I was looking for a better way to get my friend into treatment and found some of the latest research on HBO's website for their series, "Addiction". The HBO website has video clips that describe the CRAFT method and how it is proven to be the most effective, so I bought this book with high hopes.

My friend decided he was ready for detox within a week of using this approach. I am grateful for tips like watching for a window and planning for treatment in advance. CRAFT is about empowerment with positive reinforcement - without anger or judgment. This book shows how important it is to avoid shame and guilt about addiction.

I wish I could give this book to everyone in Al-Anon. Al-Anon was not offering anything but a support group for feeling OK about doing nothing - "Letting Go". It did not make sense to detach from my alcoholic friend and wait for him to hit a new bottom. I did not want to isolate him further or fall back into enabling and this book explained how to take action in a healthy way.

Thank you to the authors - and to HBO for promoting CRAFT. Why isn't this more talked about?

My Boyfriend was a SEVERE binge drinker. I believe that this book saved his life, and quite possibly mine too.

I found this book from a self-help group, "SMART Recovery", that uses it as a guidebook for Friends & Family. They recommend to anyone joining their website because of their loved one's using, to read this book. Dr. Meyers has even come to speak to us via live chat.

The methods in this book are simplistic in concept, and throughout the last year they truly opened up my boyfriends ears, so that he could know help was a road he could CHOOSE. With us, the friends & family, being closest to our addicts, we have the most influence to give. By using the methods in this book, we can reach our addicts with love and compassion, and not simply ignore them.

I think this is the handbook to the real way to "detach with love". In a nutshell, the message is the same. The way we get the message across through CRAFT is the pivotal point. Positive reenforcement! We all know it works. It most probably will work for you too if you have a loved one who needs help, even if only to getting your sanity back and the communication flowing again.

This book provides practical real-world direction for dealing with painful, frustrating situations involving substance using family members. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a family member who won't get help for their addiction. It is easy to read and gives clear direction for real world problems.

For anyone who has struggled with the helplessness and the pain of loving an alcoholic, this is the book for you. Meyers and Wolfe lay out a definitive and realistic plan of ACTION. Finally someone has the courage to say "You CAN help your loved ones." This unique approach has the potential to give new hope to so many. Thank you to these authors.

This book is about a more positive approach to dealing with alcoholism, and anything positive in psychology tends to get my attention, as does literature concerning helping the chemically dependent. Intended for family members and other significant others in the lives of addicted individuals (although developed for working with alcoholics, the authors contend that their approach works equally well with other addictions), the emphasis is on making not using the more desirable alternative. Based on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training Model (CRAFT), the program includes components of cognitive behavioral therapy, problem solving and information processing, family, community and systems theory, motivational interviewing, self-protection, and communication skills (how's that for a quick summary?). It seems appropriate to recommend this book to nonprofessionals who are grappling with chemical dependency in a loved one (and I already have), and who may ultimately wish to get that individual into treatment. Although this book is intended for the general public, it is based on an approach that has been shown to be quite effective in the clinical setting.

This is an excellent resource for those who have a problem drinker in their lives, and who want to approach a change without relying on religion. With common sense and concrete plans, SOBER offers its readers a thoughtful and easy to follow program which can return sanity to an insane situation. Co-dependents are guided gently but firmly to the recognition of their own contribution to the problem, and given ways to make the drinker responsible for his/her own actions.

I have been using this program for 9 months. I know it works for me and see great progress with my afflicted one. It is uplifting, gives me hope and encouragement, and makes sense. I read passages I have underlined almost every day. I learn something almost every day. This struggle is not easy and this book helps me a great deal.

As a family therapist who is the director of a chemical dependency program at a local hospital I have seen the information in this book...when applied with the help of a professional...transform relationships and lives. It is a difficult path vs. ultimatums and threats...but it acually works the vast majority of the time.

I have read this book...i have given copies of it free to many clients...and have gotten only good feedback...and i have heard the shrill voices like those of these negative reviews for so long now i could cry...there are better and more effective ways to help families of alcoholics..this book outlines them, including explaining the research findings now for 20 years on this topic. So when will people start to listen to hear what works in the real world, not what they want to believe and insist on jamming down everyone's throat. These "disease of alcoholism" people with their constant attacks on those struggling to really change their drinking...with their demeaning language and desire to put everyone safely in the same box...the "alcoholic...we all know what that is" box...hurts all of us...treatment providers (me), clients and families alike. The truth is: Alanon does not help the alcoholic, interventions hurt the alcoholic, CRAFT helps everyone. Wake up and grow up please.

I'm a therapist who works with the family members of substance users. I always use this book with my clients and they LOVE it. They like the easy to read format, the exercises that encourage change, and the positive tone of the book. I can't tell you how many lives this book has helped change. If you have a family member or close friend who has an alcohol or drug problem, this is the book for you!