If that concerned thought recurs when you recycle yet another batch of empties you need to read this book
If that concerned thought recurs when you recycle yet another batch of empties you need to read this book
Alcohol
The book breaks all the rules about treating alcoholism.
It’s not just about the stereotypical alcoholic but the invisible majority, the middle class drinkers, the people who are in control of their lives but with one significant exception - that they have already concluded that their use of alcohol is excessive.
These are the silent majority; the ‘Sophisticated Alcoholics’.
Nobody really knows how many there are but there is a suspicion that the number is very large indeed.
The book would be about a cure were alcoholism an illness rather than a behaviour but, instead, it is about resolution, a permanent change of relationship between the person and the bottle so that alcohol ceases to retain any importance.
The author belonged to this group for too many years and now does not. People can completely change their relationship with alcohol if they address the real issues lying behind and driving their actions. The author has done so.
Alcoholism, as it turns out, has nothing to do with alcohol.
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Allen extensively explores modern concepts about alcoholism and its treatment. He acknowledges both modalities that parallel his, and those that are at least partially contradictory in approach. As the child of an alcoholic, and someone who monitors her relationship with alcohol because of that, I found this book to provide new and thought-provoking insight into the problem. It is much more innately hopeful than most of the literature in the field. It is clear, however, that a serious commitment to do the work is necessary for the program to be effective. This is not a program for dabblers.
~ Anna Jedrziewski , inannaworks.comThis book challenges the current model of understanding alcohol addiction and provides both renewed hope and practical ways forward to promote real and permanent change.
~ Dr James Kustow BMBS MRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist"The Sophisticated Alcoholic is welcome addition to the literature on excessive and addictive drinking.The book is aimed at those who know they are drinking too much, want to drink less and need to find out how. Its pragmatic, practical and optimistic approach to alcoholism is a useful counterweight to those who take the view that alcoholic addiction cannot be reversed but can only be held in abeyance by abstinence and a life time of regular attendance at self-help groups. It takes the view that the disease model of alcoholism is defeatist, irresponsible and wrong (and depressing). Central to the book is the argument that changing beliefs and perceptions is at the heart of tackling excessive and damaging drinking. Changes in perception are most effective at the unconscious level using hypnotherapy. The aim is to completely change a person's relationship with alcohol so that it is no longer important. It has useful step-by-step guides and an illuminating section on the importance of spiritual enlightenment. The book offers the refreshing and optimistic view that everyone can change -- you are not a slave to your genes or an incurable disease."
~ Ed Mitchell, Former ITN Newsreader and Journalist. A life almost destroyed by Alcohol.
A controversial new book on the nation's drinking habits ... Here Allen describes the new kind of alcoholic in Britain.
~ Lynsey Haywood, The Sun, UK National Newspaper