Sober for Good [Hardcover]

Anne M. Fletcher M.S. R.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2001

Finally someone has gone straight to the real experts: hundreds of men and women who have resolved a drinking problem. Best-selling author Anne M. Fletcher asked them a simple question: how did you do it? The result: the first completely unbiased guide for problem drinkers, which shatters long-held assumptions about alcohol recovery.

Myth #1: AA is the only way to get sober.
Reality: More than half of the people Fletcher found recovered without AA.

Myth #2: You can’t get sober on your own.
Reality: Many people got sober by themselves.

Myth #3: To get sober, you have to admit you’re an alcoholic.
Reality: Many people — even some with very serious drinking problems — recovered without calling themselves alcoholics.

Myth # 4: One drink inevitably leads right back to the bottle.
Reality: A small number of people find they can have an occasional drink.

Myth #5: There’s nothing you can do for someone with a drinking problem until he or she is ready.
Reality: Family and friends can make a big difference if they know how to help.

Weaving together the success stories of ordinary people and the latest scientific research on the subject, Fletcher uncovers a simple truth: no single path to sobriety is right for every individual. There are many ways to get sober — and stay sober.
The most comprehensive book on alcohol recovery available, SOBER FOR GOOD includes • motivational strategies from former problem drinkers • suggestions on what to do if you’re not ready to quit • advice for family and friends of problem drinkers • a complete “Consumer Guide” to the many recovery options — how to find what's right for you.
SOBER FOR GOOD is for anyone who has ever struggled not to drink, coped with someone who has a drinking problem, or secretly wondered, "Do I drink too much?"

An award-winning health and medical journalist, Anne M. Fletcher is the author of the best-selling THIN FOR LIFE and EATING THIN FOR LIFE. She is the former executive editor of the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter and a former contributing editor to Prevention magazine.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anne M. Fletcher resolved her own drinking problem without Alcoholics Anonymous and was fascinated by other people who had found alternative methods to stop drinking. In the spirit of her first book, Thin for Life, for which she interviewed "masters" who had lost weight and kept it off, she decided to find people who formerly had drinking problems and learn how they got and stayed sober. She interviewed a range of ex-drinkers, from high-functioning people with mild or moderate alcohol problems to hardcore cases who had hit bottom. The amount of alcohol consumed ranged from three daily drinks to two daily quarts of vodka. Almost all these 222 "masters" had stayed sober for 5 years or more, averaging 13 years of sobriety.

Sober for Good presents their stories: when they started drinking, how much they drank, how it affected their lives, why they decided to stop, what they tried, what finally worked for them, and their perspective now. The stories are compelling on their own, and Fletcher organizes them according to common themes and strategies. She also includes helpful information about different programs available and relevant research studies.

This book takes some controversial stances. Fletcher chooses to use phrases like drinking problems and alcohol problems rather than alcoholic because she sees alcoholic as both outmoded and pejorative. Many of the masters found sobriety through AA, but more found alternative solutions, leading Fletcher to dispute the one-path solution. And although most of the masters abstain from alcohol completely, some have alcohol occasionally, challenging the accepted contention that abstinence is the only solution. Read what the masters say and judge for yourself. --Joan Price

From Publishers Weekly

Although Alcoholics Anonymous has long been the preferred (and often court-mandated) regimen for the treatment of alcoholism, its ideology isn't for everyone. As Fletcher (Thin for Life) points out, some people are put off by AA's religious tone, others by the concept of powerlessness over alcohol. And, she says, contrary to AA beliefs, many more never "hit bottom," but nonetheless choose to reconsider their relationship with drinking. Additionally, she suggests, with managed care drastically cutting coverage of inpatient treatment, people with alcohol problems need to know about outpatient alternatives to AA. Fletcher, a health and medical journalist, provides a compendium of such approaches, drawing on the voices of "masters" former problem drinkers who have resolved their problems with alcohol and been sober for at least five years. Programs such as Women for Sobriety, Rational Recovery and Moderation Management provide a variety of approaches, and the "masters" themselves offer a collection of strategies for getting and staying sober with support groups, chemical dependency counselors or a combination of treatments. Unfortunately, Fletcher draws a fuzzy line between "problem drinkers" and "alcoholics," a word she avoids because some find it "pejorative." Maintaining that the distress and dysfunction of most people with drinking problems is not as "severe" as that associated with a stereotypical drunk, she promises that, although AA proponents insist otherwise, "you can quit on your own," "you don't have to quit altogether" and "you don't have to call yourself an alcoholic." Though she sometimes appears to bash AA, Fletcher provides a useful overview of the varieties of recovery programs and practices.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395912016
• ISBN-13: 978-0395912010
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne M. Fletcher, M.S., R.D. is a nationally known, award-winning health and medical writer, speaker, and consultant on the topics of weight management, lifestyle change, and recovery from addiction. She is the author of seven books, including the award-winning national bestsellers Thin For Life: 10 Keys to Success From People Who Have Lost Weight & Kept It Off and Sober for Good: New Solutions for Drinking Problems - Advice From Those Who Have Succeeded. Anne is currently writing a book on addiction treatment for Viking Penguin.

Anne's latest book, Weight Loss Confidential: How Teens Lose Weight & Keep It Off - And What They Wish Parents Knew, was featured on the Today Show, on the CBS Early Show, and in The New York Times, USA Today, US News & World Report, and USA Weekend. She has been recognized with a dozen prestigious awards, and all of her current books are published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

A frequent guest of the national media, Anne has also appeared on The View, the Today Show, Donahue, Good Morning America, CNN, National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation, and The Larry King Radio Show.

As a registered dietitian with a B.S. degree from Cornell University and an M.S. from Drexel University, Anne has counseled hundreds of people with weight problems. She is a former executive editor and chief writer of the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter and was a contributing editor for Prevention Magazine. Her articles have appeared in Good Housekeeping, Vogue, Shape, American Psychologist, Cooking Light, Bottom Line Personal, Readers' Digest, Restaurant Hospitality, Parenting, Journal of Food Science, Eating Well, The Humanist, American Psychologist, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and Obesity Management.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars October 2008 Update on my 2002 Rave, April 11, 2002

By 

Jean Marie Taylor "sf book gal" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sober for Good (Hardcover)

I wrote the review below in 2002. Since then I have passed it on as a loan or sold it for what I paid for it maybe 20 times. I've told dozens of women about it. It is still indispensible. I've studied many texts and read many popular books, but Fletcher's book still stands head and shoulders above the rest!

Sober for Good is a book filled with hope. It offers perspectives rarely seen in alcohol-related materials, and I sincerely hope that it gets wide distribution.

I'm a certified moderator (volunteer small group leader) for Women for Sobriety groups, and this book is a driving force in the sobriety of nearly all of the women I meet. Not everyone benefits from AA, and it's incredibly validating to see that other people similar to ourselves have gotten sober (and stayed sober!) using other methods.

The book is put together in a way that allows the reader to go to the parts that relate most to her/his situation, which is particularly important for people still grappling with addiction or newly sober.

You go, Anne. You have a big fan club in San Francisco!

76 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Comments on Amazon's Editorial Review, April 23, 2001

By 

Frederick B. Glaser (Greenville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sober for Good (Hardcover)

Anne Fletcher's "Sober for Good" is an outstanding contribution to the literature on alcohol problems. It is written in such a way that the average lay person can undersyand all that the author and her more than 200 subjects are saying. She deals with the many controversies in the field in a balanced and judicious manner. Anyone who wants help with an alcohol problem would do well to consult this book first, as the multiple opportunities for assistance are all well outlined. I strongly disagree that the book has even the "appearance" of AA bashing; a mindset that views any comments on AA that are not gushingly superlative as "bashing" is deplorable. It is an honorable and even remarkable organization, but (as the book amply documents) it is not for everyone. As the author of the foreword to the book, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not a co-author, as Amazon's listing of the book would indicate. Ann Fletcher is owed the entire credit for this excellent and timely contribution to our knowledge of this area.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview, February 3, 2005

By 

madhatter "madhatterlg" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sober for Good: New Solutions for Drinking Problems -- Advice from Those Who Have Succeeded (Paperback)

As a long term sober member of AA, I approached this book skeptically thinking is would be just another in the 'bashing' series. But it's not. Fletcher does a very competent job surveying the various means of achieving sobriety. This book is a valauble tool for someone who is struggling with their drinking. It shows that there are a range of options for the person and that they have an opportunity to find which approach works for them.

It is also a strength of SOBER FOR GOOD that Fletcher shows how many people with long-term sobriety have migrated thru various programs thru different phases of their recovery. This would be a good book for one who has been sober for a while, but is feeling the need to expand beyond the limits of what their current program has to offer.

The one drawback in the book is the use of jargon in too many places. For example, use of the term 'master' to describe a person who has achieved sobriety smacks of the guru feeling of many other self-improvement books. A good editor would have made Fletcher find other terminology.

All in all, well worth the $12. I went ahead and bought 5 copies for use with my AA sponsees to let them know that if they don't feel comfortable with the work of the program, then it doesn't mean they're doomed to an early grave.