An Uncommon Drunk: Revelations of a High-Functioning Alcoholic [Paperback]

Jeff Herten M.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 22, 2006

For nearly thirty years, author Dr. Jeff Herten was a high-functioning alcoholic—one who drinks every day, yet continues to lead a productive, successful life. Now he shares his first-hand knowledge of how alcohol can destroy lives—as it nearly destroyed his.

Alcohol is the single greatest social ill in the United States. It affects us not only emotionally but physically. Alcohol may lead to deadly cancers of the breast, colon, esophagus, and liver. It rots our bones, corrodes our stomach lining, erodes our memories, and suppresses our immune systems. An Uncommon Drunk explores the numerous facets of alcohol consumption in the United States, including the risks, the behaviors associated with alcohol, and the innocent victims of alcohol abuse. But it also offers hope for those wishing to become sober and recommends resources to help them turn their lives around.

Frank and honest, An Uncommon Drunk is a must-read for every spouse, parent, child, employer, physician, and counselor whose life is touched by alcohol. It may be just the wake-up call you need.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Jeff Herten, a native Californian, resides in rural San Luis Obispo with his wife, Debby. His past as a high-functioning alcoholic, his medical expertise, and his life experiences have uniquely equipped him to expose the shocking physical, psychological, and social effects of alcohol.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (May 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059537994X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595379941
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #892,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly honest - the truth will set you free....., January 3, 2007

By 

G-Dude (Hartford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Uncommon Drunk: Revelations of a High-Functioning Alcoholic (Paperback)

I have struggled with the question of whether I have had a drinking problem for the past several years, and if so, to what extent. After all, I don't wake up in the morning and reach for a hair of the dog that bit me. I've never missed work, never been stopped for drinking and driving (although that was sheer luck at times), and never beat up on my wife or kids in a drunken rage. The problem is, we have all been fed this extreme portrait of what makes an alcoholic, and it makes it all to easy for many of us to deny that we have a problem. Deep down inside, though, we know that we are addicted to our daily dose of liquor - no matter how small, or whether it comes in the seemingly inoccuous form of beer, wine, or the hard stuff. Then again, there are so many reports that come out every so often, touting the benefits of having just the right amount of booze on a daily basis. Here's the real skinny: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF BOOZE ON A DAILY BASIS!!!

The truth is, there are many of us who aren't necessarily born to be hard wired drunks, but we fall into a daily drinking habit through learned social patterns. It sneaks up on us, and our inner voices deceive us when we try to stop. This book is refreshing, because it talks to those of us in this boat, and I was certainly one of them. For fourteen years, I hardly ever went a day without drinking several glasses of wine, at a bare minimum. I woke up nearly every day hung over to at least a certain extent, but found myself reaching for a drink again the minute I got home from work. I've successfully held a job all these years, but very little otherwise got accomplished in my life.

The bare honest truth is, alcohol diminishes the human spirit. There are some of us who can function better while drunk or intoxicated than others, but we all eventually succumb to its effects - and usually recognize it only when it's too late.

By exposing this truth and helping me to see the symptoms of my own addiction, this book has convinced me to get sober. It's been nearly 3 months since I've had a drink. I wake up feeling the best I have in years, and I'm a hundred percent sharper and more productive at work. I'm more engaged with my kids, and I stay up late at night getting things done at home that I never would have imagined doing before. Like the author, I haven't yet attended an AA meeting. I'm not sure that AA is for everyone, although I can relate to those who feel that they need to go there for support and guidance. For me, reading this book was enough. I guess I'm an "uncommon drunk" myself.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I also recommend Pete Hamils' "A Drinking Life."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real truth about alcohol, August 1, 2010

By 

David M. Fox "Music Lover" (Port Orchard, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: An Uncommon Drunk: Revelations of a High-Functioning Alcoholic (Paperback)

I'm middle-aged and have rationalized my drinking since I was a teenager. I believed all the wrong information about drinking that people and the culture provided me. It was nice to finally see the truth of what has been a big, pernicious part of my life.

Dr. Herten pulls no punches and had the courage to label himself an alcoholic and move beyond drinking while everyone around him thought otherwise. He identifies links between drinking and maladies that I have wrestled with my whole adult life.

I recommend this book highly to moderate-to-heavy drinkers who don't think they have a problem. My drinking days are over.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Needs to be Re-Packaged and Re-Positioned, January 15, 2010

By 

Rodger Garrett "SighKoBlahGrr" (Loma Linda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Uncommon Drunk: Revelations of a High-Functioning Alcoholic (Paperback)

Herten's truly edifying and useful tome has the outward appearance of Chuck Chamberlain's =A New Pair of Glasses= and AA's own =Living Sober=. The book looks like the umpteenth reprenting of something forty or fifty years old. But judging =this= book by its cover would indeed be unfortunate.

Herten's written a fine self-revelation that's also a stiff dose of millennial-era physiological reality as well as an illuminating polemic against Big Booze. Some of the chapters read like Sherwin Nuland's =How We Die= and Bruce Perry's =The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog=, which is to say "luridly." But, as is the case with those two books, the author is a renowned expert on his topic, and the factual base here is rock solid.

The stimulation-seeker will =not= be disappointed. =AUD= is a series of discrete essays about Herten's personal encounters with the tragic consequences of substance abuse. As with =HWD= and =TBWWRAAD=, =AUD='s organization and right-here-on-the-front-lines style make it an easy, as well as engrossing, read for alkies in denial, contemplation, acceptance, commitment and relapse prevention, as well as family members and others in any of those five stages of recovery.

There's plenty of meat here for the alanon, the codependent, the adult child of the alcoholic, the concerned coworker, the spiritual advisor, the sponsor, the social worker, the substance abuse counselor, the addictions therapist and the addiction medicine physician. (I'm in there in several places.)

Herten's reframing of wine-tasting and the sophisticated marketing of alcoholic beverages to unsuspecting yuppies, codependents and other approval-seeking "herd animals" is worth the price of admission all by itself. (The "AdBusters" crowd will love this thing.)

Don't expect a rundown of =various= treatment methods, however. The author comes from "disease model" and 12 Step recovery, which is fine, because for many, the disease model and 12 Step recovery works well. That said, those who come from psychodynamic, behavioralistic, cognitive and/or neuropsychological models and treatment schemes will still benefit from the material here.

RG, Psy.D.