Customer Reviews

The Tao of Sobriety: Helping You to Recover from Alcohol and Drug Addiction

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although a therapist and a student of Zen practice for over 25 years, this book gave me a deeper level of compassion for people who suffer a life of addiction. I was impressed with how direct and yet nuturing the book spoke to the everyday difficulties of a person suffering from addiction.

I found the exercises and the related discussions practical, realistic and powerful. This book can help addicts and their loved ones to experience the great joy of substance free, moment to moment living. As a family member who has experienced the pain of another family member's addiction, it help me to change my interactions, conversations and start a new relationship based on honest expression and loving actions.

Read it, apply it and this book with change you!

I found "The Tao of Sobriety" to be extremely helpful on several counts. With over 20 years experience in the substance abuse treatment field, I found Gregson and Efran articulating ideas that I'd been working with in a coherent and practical framework. Their section on establishing "innocence in spirit" among patients who are plagued with guilt about their addiction is especially powerful and has been well received by several of my patients. The use of actual exercises makes the book useful as well as stimulating. The message of this book is relevant whether one is working a 12-Step program, (in which case it fits neatly into the "prayer and meditation" of the 11th Step), or is seeking an alternative approach to recovery. In fact, most of the concepts have relevance beyond the substance abuse area, and have already found a way into my practice with both addicted and non-addicted patients. I recommend this book highly.

I love to read and re-read this book. It's not just about being sober, it's about being human. I feel like I have a personal private therapy session every time I pick up this book to read various passages. It is like you are being personally addressed and all your issues are diminished and you get "freed up". I only wish these authors were "on the road" giving seminars or something but, alas, don't find anything online about that. A truly, loving, supportive, forgiving friend is found when reading these pages. Thank you.

I do not know if this is kosher, but I thought "Why not use this opportunity to discuss (okay, and promote) my book"? Perhaps the most usefull feature of "The Tao Of Sobriety" is the way it deconstructs shame and facilitates radical acceptance or "Life on life's terms," as they say in Twelve Step programs. The acceptance of life leads naturally to peace of mind, serenity, the second promise of AA, after sobriety. I do not know of any self help book that directly attacks the cruel and innacurate notion that people literaly choose to do harm and so deserve to be punsished and scorned.
Essentialist guilt and shame are crippling to those with D&A dependencies, and others. In my very first session with clients I say, "Nobody wakes up one day feeling really and truly good about themselves and says 'Today is a good day to become a drunk, or a junkie.'" I always get a sad laugh at the absurdity of this. Yet, most of us do believe that people literaly choose to become addicted. This is why the Disease Model of addiction is clung to. If uncle Sol has a disease, well, he isn't a "lousey drunk" anymore; he is "sick." In "The Tao..." we show how to see and live life so that one does not need to be "diseased" in order to be worthy of compassion.
I work with many in Twelve Step groups and, to the person, they are relieved to find that they are not "sick."
Since D&A use, including drinking appropriately at a party, is always about changing feelings, moods, what my colleagues and I usually work with are broken childhood hearts. I usually work with the consequences of significant to severe child abuse and neglect. (By the way, we do not blame parents, we do not blame anybody. We are into positve, pragamtic, solutions, based upon up-to-date science.) If I had to fault "The Tao..." I would fault it for not making the links between childhood and addiction more clear. Having said this, in "The Tao..." we offer a direct way out of self hatred, toward the peace of mind that all human beings, none of us really having asked for this difficult life, crave and deserve.

Alcoholism and drug addiction are the only two pathologies (character traits) that tell you, you don't have them. If you think you might have a problem, you do! If you do then I would suggest two books to read, "Alcoholics Anonymous" or "The Tao of Sobriety"--if you're serious about getting sober. David Gregson's and Jay Efran's new book "The Tao of Sobriety" has captured the pain, lonliness and absurd (comic) insanity of alcoholism and drug addiction with compassion and insight. It is a book that should give hope and courage to anyone struggling with addictions. You owe it to yourself to take the time and read it. Its simple straight forward suggestions just might save your life.

This workbook is the best cognitive approach (CBT) to recovery that I have read so far. Outstanding and easy to comprehend.
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In the 12-Step Programs, those of us who have not experienced an anthropomorphic God (i.e., one who intervenes in human affairs) have an uphill battle with the religionists who want to promote their Higher Power (usually Jesus). Even my beloved Bill W. wrote the Chapter to the Agnostics, which has been used by more than one sponsor to clobber my agnosticism.
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For 18-years, my Higher Power was my Home Group and the Big Book.
But it wasn't until I started using a cognitive-behavioral approach to recovery, and Buddhism for my spirituality that I really began having success in changing my "stinking thinking." So I don't care whether my binge drinking is a disease, heredity or part of my PTSD, all I know is that finally, after 20-years of effort, I am finally "happy, joyous & free." Thank you Bill W. for starting my journey & thank you Buddha & David Gregson for helping me put the icing on the cake.
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For those interested, the following is a non-theistic summary of my 12-Step Program:
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The Principles of the 12-Steps:
1. Honesty
2. Hope
3. Faith
4. Courage
5. Integrity
6. Willingness
7. Humility
8. Empathy
9. Justice
10. Perseverance
11. Spirituality
12. Service
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Three Cardinal Rules of Sobriety:
1. Stay Sober NO MATTER WHAT !!
2. Change the Brain from its Stinking Thinking !!
.....(using cognitive therapy if necessary)
3. Help Others Stay Sober !!
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How to Work a 12-Step Program:
1. For the 1st 90-days, Be Quiet (except to ask questions).
2. For the 1st year, LISTEN and LEARN.
3. From Day-1, PRACTICE What You Learn.
4. Teach Others the Program (when you sponsor someone).
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And when the religionists put the heat on you, just say that the Home Group is your Higher Power. If they really know the program, they will let it go at that.

It must be remembered that this book is written by 2 psychologists.
Buddism and its philosophy, teaching and meditations are very conducive to a pshychological bent.
But I felt they stretched the ideals of Buddism and innocence to better coincide with the Christian 12 steps. The idea to give yourself totally up to God, and relieve the mind and soul of guilt and shame is quite different than Buddism.
Buddism allows choice and therefore, though born innocent, you are responsible for your karma.

It is a useful book to change negative ways of thought.
But be mindful of where similarities exist and where they are stretched.

I have nothing but good things to say about this book. Health concerns caused me to make the decision to give up my daily consumption of 2 or 3 drinks. While I did not think it necessary to attend AA, I needed some form of help. This book was the answer and gave me the knowledge and skills to forgo my daily pastime. It has been seven weeks since the last drink and other than a few times, it has been relatively easy to stop. I have read the book twice however and plan to read it again, if the "minddemons" start to play havoc with me. Thankyou for an intelligent book that provides the skills needed to overcome this addiction. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be a helpful and useful way to look at one's self not only in the context of alcoholism or addiction, but in the context of life in general. This book comes from a very positive or affirming perspective, encouraging us to forgive ourselves, let go of the past, and take the steps to write our own script for the future.

(I agree with another reviewer's characterization of this as a book on Buddhism rather than Taoism, but that is somewhat beside the point.)

Reading this book was a key turning point in my recovery. It really put everything into perspective for me and strengthened my commitment to remaining sober and living a live of commitment to love and well-being for all. I gave it to my mom as a gift as well, and she's not in recovery.