The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: holistic recovery program, healing the underlying causes, sober living house, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jason Giles, Shanty Town (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...excellent book. I heartily recommend it to all, especially to those who have friends who have addictions. -- William House, Reversespins.com

This is an excellent resource for anyone dealing with addictions or trying to understand their life. -- Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of 365 Prescriptions for the Soul and 101 Exercises for the Soul

This thought-provoking book causes any reader to closely examine their life. -- Natural Beauty & Health

Review

"An excellent resource for anyone dealing with addictions....This book contains the information that can start you on the road to recovery." ---Bernie Siegel, M.D. #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Love, Medicine and Miracles.

"A critically important and thoroughly 'reader friendly' instructional guide to recovery...." ---The Midwest Book Review

"An excellent guide and resource book for anyone dealing with addiction, either for themselves or their family/friends....The program offers fresh hope to many for whom conventional treatments have not worked." ---Yoga & Health --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Power Press; illustrated edition edition (September 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0943015448
• ISBN-13: 978-0943015446
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,633 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #8 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Recovery > Drug Dependency
  #9 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Recovery > Alcoholism
  #17 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Recovery > Substance Abuse

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Recovery Story, But Who Can Afford Their Plan?, June 17, 2008

By	J. Moran "Sausage Lover" (Sausage Land) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The story that the son, Pax, wrote about his addiction and recovery was great. It rang brutally true. I was into the book and ready to see how they could translate their $50,000/month Malibu treatment plan to the masses. The answer? They can't. They recommend hiring a western medical doctor, a clinical pyschologist, a massage therapist, a nutrionist, an acupuncturist, a hypnotist, and a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine as the minimum "holistic treatment team". They recommend going to clinical pyschologist at least 3 times/week. During a question/answer part of the book, it was asked "What if I can't afford all of this?" The answer? Ask to be treated for free. Tell them that they'd be part of a "Passages model team".

Okay...

My HMO pays for 10 counseling sessions per year with a social worker. And the copay for that is $40 per visit. Somehow I don't think I'm going to be able to assemble this psychological dream team without a load of cash and a lot of free time.

Oh, and what should you do if your dream team doesn't live in your small town? MOVE to a big city (just for a month).

I'm not a big fan of AA and their dogmatic religiosity, but at least they're free and close by!

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Contradiction to the "Rule", August 28, 2008

By	D. Engel (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I too, am a "recovering" alcoholic with 23 years of sobriety, and I am very grateful for the gift of finding the treatment that worked for me. I stumbled across Chris Prentiss quite by mistake today, after taping a 30 minute program on the subject "Alcoholism and Addiction Cure." I felt like I had found someone who heard the same "voice" that I had heard within myself for the past 20 years. I too, consider myself an intelligent (I cannot tell you what my IQ is and I am still going to college, part time, and working full time for a large healthcare concern, but I consider myself extremely intelligent and open to new ideas)and open minded individual.
What I do know? I come from a family of addicts; my father's father emigrated from Germany before Hitler's control over that country was irrevocable and he was an alcoholic who passed the "disease" down to his sons - my father, the youngest son, died an alcoholic at the young age of 58. I will not go into detail about my childhood traumas other than to say that I began my journey into my own addiction (lucky me, my drug of choice was alcohol) when I was 15 years old. It culminated with my experiencing panic attacks in my early 20s and subsequent heavier drinking ensued in my desperate attempt to quell my rising panic attacks - I was running away from my childhood pain and I was self-medicating.
What I discovered, quite by accident and to my great relief and immense gratitude was a therapist, who was one of, if not "the," early humanistic therapists in the treatment arena. This woman walked with me through my treatment, unpeeling the layers of protection that I had wrapped by battered and abused psyche within and, after seven years of on again, off again, therapy (each new level, each new unveiling, opened doorways that I had shut and hidden behind) I walked into my first Al Anon meeting and within a month's time, my first AA meeting. I remember the intense self loathing and reluctance that I felt at having to go to that meeting where I had to admit to myself and others that I WAS AN ALCOHOLIC - the one thing that I hated my father for I had become.
The main reason I began my road to recovery in AA was, I knew I needed the strength and support of a fellowship where meeting and talking to others, who were traveling the same lonely, frightening path that I was on, would help me to "stay sober," while I continued with my individual therapy. But as much as I cherish those first couple of years in AA, I came to the realization that there had to come a time where not drinking became a personal choice and not just the choice of the group. I saw too many people who switched their addiction from the drugs or alcohol, to the group and who wouldn't miss a meeting if their lives depended on it and for many it did. And then there were the ones who moved on to other 12 step programs because they were sober but now they were attending Overeaters Anonymous or Workaholics Anonymous or Co-Dependents Anonymous because the root causes for their original addiction remained. Yes, it was healthier than being in the addiction but they still seemed frozen in time because they were still "dependent" on something outside of themselves for validation and strength or had simply switched addictions.
I left AA, but I stayed sober because I began my journey in one-on-one therapy where I was willing to do the work, no matter how painful, to heal my wounded psyche. And I did it with a therapist who allowed me to heal at my own pace and who never, ever, led or told me what I should feel, think or do. She was my guide, my mentor, my belief system when I did not believe in myself, and she let me go when it was my time to go.
When I was in my addiction I always felt like I didn't fit in with the rest of the world; but when I left AA with the belief that one had to finally make their choice not to use, a personal choice and stop being co-dependent on an outside source, I felt like I was different, there, too, and did not "fit in" with the traditional treatment for addicts. I truly believe the reason for relapse is because AA cannot provide the intense therapy necessary to find the root cause of an individual's addiction - I think "getting sober" is the easy part, staying sober, is the hardest thing to do, because then all you have is this open, gaping wound and you will eventually return to the original addiction or find another one to cover the untreated wound.
Today, I feel exonerated and I would encourage anybody who is struggling with recovery to read the book and go find a good therapist, preferably one who is humanistic or holistic (I truly believe you have to treat the mind, the body and spirit because ALL of you is involved in the addiction not just your diseased physical being) and be willing to do the work - not just counting 12 steps and giving it all up to an outside source. I am a deeply spiritual being and I believe addiction stands between you and that spirituality but you must find your own path and be willing to go it alone while in therapy, but know that you are never alone in healing. And by all means, incorporate the individual therapy with a group, such as AA, because it is extremely healing to hear your fears, pain, anger and frustrations, echoed in others - it depletes that sense of aloneness.
I am grateful for 23 years of sobriety and I am grateful that there are those in recovery programs who finally "get it" and are working on treating the mind, body, spirit! Don't give up on yourself or someone you love in addiction - I only wish those who came before, and lost to addiction, had the same opportunity.
"Seek not the favor of the multitude, for it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of the few, and number not the voices, but weigh them." Immanuel Kant

141 of 168 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those who are 'white knuckling their way through sobriety...', February 13, 2007

By	Laurie S. Reilly (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a talk show host I am accustom to being inundated with requests from PR folks trying to get me to book their particular client on my show to plug their book. Since I didn't like my current events show to be a blatant advertisement for a writer, I generally delete these types of solicitation ...25 times a day. In fact I had hit delete on the email regarding Chris Prentiss's book just as my eye caught a phrase and I had to actually retrieve the message. It was the cure rate of better than 80% that got my attention, and triggered my skepticism...along with a tiny sliver of hope since I knew how many times friends and members of my own family had fallen off the wagon. I booked Chris for 15 minutes and they sent me the book. A few days beforehand I thought I better skim the book so I could ask him some tough questions. I read the entire book and called the pr representative back and booked Chris for the entire show. I think what hooked me was Chris's comment about observing an AA meeting where people were `white knuckling their way through sobriety". Controversial statement. And true for too many. The book was specific about the path. Find the underlying cause(s). Work on that. The true story of his son's journey was engaging and encouraging. For weeks and months after the show I received emails and phone calls from listeners: "What was the name of that guy again? What's the name of his book?" Of all the shows and topics I have covered in 17 years on air, I have never received such a response.