Customer Reviews

Tales of Addiction and Inspiration for Recovery: Twenty True Stories from the Soul (Reflections of America)

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"Tales of Addiction and Inspiration for Recovery" by Barbara Sinor is a collection of stories about addiction and recovery, some of which are inspirational, some which portray the hard-fought successes and some which depict the heart-breaking realities of addiction. The most poignant story by far is the author's own tale of dealing with her son's alcoholism and eventual death. It angers me to read about someone losing their fight with addiction while waiting to get into treatment after being repeatedly told there are "no beds available." It's absurd that this should happen in a country that spends billions in a futile "war on drugs." The focus obviously needs to be shifted from putting people in prison to putting them in treatment. Sinor includes information about many different organizations, one of which is Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap, a national program working to expand addiction treatment for those who desire to reach out for help. Currently, four out of five Americans who need treatment are unable to get it.

In her own story, Sinor says, "David and I were heartbroken that our son had chosen such a difficult path." I think it's unfortunate that she believes her son "chose" the path that led to his death. If I chose my path, I made that choice long before I first drank alcohol and smoked pot at fourteen. By then, my personality and character were well-formed in a way that made my "choice" more of an involuntary contraction or reaction. I was a curious and naive dare-devil, and I made an ill-informed decision that lead to much misery before I could see what was happening to me. No one knows exactly how one becomes addicted. I believe, for me, it was a recipe with many ingredients. I would say 50 percent of it is genetics since I have addicts and alcoholics on both sides of my family. 25 to 35 percent I would attribute to experiences and conditions in my family and school. And the hand that flipped the switch that my genetics and environmental conditions created had to be my exposure to the drugs themselves at an early age. A close family member introduced me to the needle, and I doubt I would ever have been exposed to it had this relationship not existed the way it did. So basically I'm saying I was too young and too many things were out of my control to say I "chose" the disease of addiction. I'm not absolving myself of responsibility here either. I, and no one else, am responsible for my recovery. I chose recovery after twenty years of hell, twenty years of not believing I had a choice.

In her stories of addiction, Sinor also includes one by a woman who has been on methadone for forty years and one by a woman who continues to smoke pot every night after deciding not to do hard drugs anymore. I relapsed many times after hearing such stories when I attempted to quit. They always fooled me into believing I could control my use. These two people write about how great their life is "in recovery," but I suspect they are not telling the whole story. I could not begin to recover until I was able to see my addiction as a beast living inside me. Using any drug, even the ones I "never had a problem with," keeps the beast alive and gives him strength. I could not arrest my addiction until I stopped feeding the beast.

All in all, "Tales of Addiction and Inspiration for Recovery" is a book full of love, heartbreak, compassion, and ultimately, hope. As Sinor says, "Living with addiction is a spiritual journey." Whether we chose this path or not, it is the one we are on and there is much to learn, and this book has taken me another step in the right direction on the right path.

David Allan Reeves
Author of "Running Away From Me"

Addiction is a disease that often doesn't present itself in a form that onlookers notice; it's often hidden by the addict to a point even the closest friends and family don't know about it. And, at other times the family of the addict cover it up so well that closest friends don't even realize there is a problem. As I read each story in "Tales of Addiction" by Dr. Barbara Sinor I felt the pain, dismay, denial, and hopelessness of each writer. Some stories are just down-right difficult to read and offered much contemplation as I reflected back on my own life and experiences.

Yet, every one of the stories offers hope. We get the distinct guidance that a shift happens in us and we begin to accept the addiction as real and seek recovery. This goes for both - the addict and the family member. Just because we don't have a substance addiction, it doesn't mean we aren't susceptible to enabling, which ends up being an addiction in itself.

Poignant, reflective, and offering the knowing there is hope and recovery, "Tales of Addiction" gives the reader the sense they are not alone. But most of all, the stories reflect compassion and in the end the true identity of each person.

Dr. Sinor has again provided dynamics concerning addiction/recovery that anyone can learn from. Being a recovered addict and a contributor to this anthology, I found this book hard to put down. The different perspectives offered gives the reader an insight not only into the lives of addicts but also into the lives of those affected by addicts.

John E. Smethers, PhD - Author of Scumbag Sewer Rats: An Archetypal Understanding of Criminalized Drug Addicts

When I first bought this book, I stared at it for a few weeks before picking it up to read. I knew it was going to be tough to read after the first few pages, the stories were so raw. I read on through the painful sharing of real people, sharing real experiences with addiction, and then it shifted to a different kind of pain...the author's loss came through. Her pain weaved in and out of the pages as it created an underlying story or memories and love. Her story kept me in the book, even with the flood of emotions each story brought up for me. I cried many times while reading this intense book and wanted to thank Dr. Sinor for giving me several "ah-ha" moments of my own. If you have been involved with anyone with an addiction, this book will clarify so many patterns, emotions, sense of helplessness, and despair that can travel down it's path. For those who have been in recovery, Tales of Addiction reminds the reader to acknowledge where you might have come from to where you can go in healing. It is a powerful testimony to the recovery process and the potential of the human spirit.

This Book Review was recently published in the SF Book Review!!

"Tales of Addiction and Inspiration for Recovery: Twenty True Stories from the Soul"
Filed in Biographies & Memoirs on August 26, 2010
By Barbara Sinor, Ph.D.
Modern History Press, $32.95, 214 pages

Dr. Sinor is a psychologist and a writer who has a passion to help people heal from addictions. At her public appearances in Northern California over the past few years, she requested of her audiences that they write to her of their own addiction stories. From their submissions, she compiled these twenty stories. The stories include viewpoints, advice, and regrets from addicts, drunkards, and the people who love them. Some were addicted only a short time, some for a lifetime. Not everyone wins the battle, but everyone's story has the possibility to help another addict still suffering.

Pain and failure mix with hope and success in these stories, and Sinor has interwoven amongst them all a very personal lesson of her own: the drama, struggle, and heartbreak she and her husband have faced with their son Richard's fight for victory over alcohol. Twenty tales of addiction and grace, this is a good book for people in recovery, people on the brink of recovery, and people who struggle to maintain hope in another's recovery.

Reviewed by Marcia Jo

Excellent reading. A must read for anyone who is or who has an addict in the family. The true stories show how addictions can bring a person to " The depths of hell". And can still recover. One Day at a Time.

This book was amazing. Speaking as one of the stories represented in the book, I was very moved by the honesty and rawness of all those stories also involved. The mix of viewpoints represented from those taken by addiction and those family members touched by their loved one's addiction culminates into one very strong, poignant book. A must read for anyone wrestling with their own form of addiction or anyone wishing to better understand the hold it can take on one's life. The author's shared tale of her own son's struggles only seems to add yet one more amazing perspective into the life of an addict and the family members they touch. Highly recommended.

I met Dr. Sinor through Facebook. I read this book within three days. The stories were gripping and the true account of her life story and her son's journal were excellent. I would recommend this read to anyone who is going through addictions with their family, friends, or loved ones. The quotes throughout the book identify with each story she tells. Fabulous! Grab your copy TODAY!

My time is very limited and I often start a book but don't finish it, or leaf through certain chapters but not others. However, once I started reading Tales of Addiction I couldn't put it down. It is a highly entertaining and insightful book that you'll want to read cover to cover. If you've struggled with addition in your own life or are dealing with it in the life of a loved one the many first account stories will touch deep places within you. I also especially appreciated the author interweaving her son's journey through addiction and the effect on her and her husband's lives.

Addiction is rampant in our society, shattering relationships, stunting potential, creating greater emotional and physical illness, and ending lives far too soon. Tales of Addiction is a book that guides the reader through profound understanding about this disease and a glimpse into the soul's path to healing.

Tales of Addiction

"Once in a blue moon, I read a book that culminates in a poignancy by sharing a powerful experience. Tales of Addiction is one such book: Here is a story and message amidst all of our stories; here is hope set against great challenges in the world of addiction and recovery; here is a legacy of understanding. Tales of Addiction is not just a collection of deep insight and personal accounts of tearful relapse and recovery, it is craftsmanship. Author, Barbara Sinor is a well read specialist in a world coming to grips with the disease of addiction. She offers her own valuable background of relatedness and heartened familiarity. Artfully sharing all of this is the book's strength. Like a tapestry, it works by holding the reader's interest with unique tales smoothly interwoven with both a spiritual and intellectual thought process. Sinor progressively weaves the details of her life and practical wisdom in-and-out of the book's logical succession and its acumen of the disease of addiction. The reader feels her deep and intelligent reflection accompanying each precious contribution of struggle and uncertain recovery. Some make it; others may not, you begin to know this. You feel your own relatedness and in the last chapters, the reader enters the author's space hearing the breaking news of a sudden culmination of one very special story and a legacy that lives on in her. Sinor's book pushes forward with exigency and hope.

Tales of Addiction resonates a message to all impacted by the world of drugs and alcohol: It is a world of possibility and joy; it is a world of shocking sadness; it is a world of conquest. One poignant message from the book is that no matter what, a single addict's life is still sacred and knowing this captures a moment in time. Sinor invites the reader to share in her well of knowledge, reputation and work in the field of addiction and recovery. She expresses touching wisdom gained from her own life experience while delivering generous individual contributions written by people like you and I. Tales of Addiction instills there is no right or wrong; there is the possibility of helping just one more person; there is the possibility of coming to terms with this single moment, just for today." Bill Ford, [...]