Customer Reviews

Hidden Addictions: Assessment Practices for Psychotherapists, Counselors, and Health Care Providers

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"This book is as academic as a serious textbook needs to be
but it is also very readable, practical and persuasive. Its
purpose is to help professionals and graduate students
who work in the mental health field to uncover and deal
with those addictive behaviours that are hidden behind a
mountain of other problems....The book should move a
pre-contemplative psychotherapist
through contemplation to action with just one
bound; but why only psychotherapists? This book should
have a wider readership. Uncovering and dealing with
hidden addictions would improve the practice of most
health professionals and social workers." Quoted from Addiction,101, 2006, p.1369 Reviewer Ray Hodgson

Freimuth does an extraordinary job of speaking to both the inexperienced individual with an interest in learning more about addiction and the seasoned professional who treats addiction regularly. The prose is rich and informative, yet easy to read and entertaining. For those who would like to learn more about addiction, this book will teach you. For those who already know about addiction, this book will fill in gaps and answer questions you didn't even know you had. I recommend it to clients who would like to learn more about addiction as well as colleagues who work in addiction treatment.

The book is enjoyable, thoughtful, informative, and offers an array of clinical examples. Dr. Freimuth does a nice job of addressing varying theoretical perspectives, diagnostic and clinical ambiguities, and therapeutic process/relationship factors. The information provided is helpful in developing case conceptualizations and considering various treatment interventions.

Kudos to the author for this wonderful clinical resource.

This text should be helpful to professionals and treatment providers who need additional guidance on specific methods to uncover and discern addiction and compulsive behaviors. Often addictions are located within complex, intraindividual series of defenses that can make the "abnormal appear normal" The author makes clear that the treament of addictions of various sorts does not have to be a series of battles or interpersonal confrontations, rather beneficial outcomes are possible with these challenging populations.