5 comments about Who's Watching Your Drink?.

1. Sharon's book is wonderful! Once I began reading, I could not put it down! All of the different emotions I had while reading this book was unreal. I felt sadness, anxiety, tension and most of all compassion for Sharon. This book is a must for all adult readers! Thank you Sharon for having the courage to tell your story to people like myself!



2. I am a male and was totally captivated and amazed at what we do to each other. Sharon is one of the most courageous women in the world to share this incredible story.

   It is remarkable how our minds work and how much Sharon was able to recall after so many years. She includes a free coaster with the book so that your loved ones don't go through what Sharon did.

   Sharon, you are deserving of the greatest rewards that come your way for caring enough to share your story with others. I hope your foundation takes off in great multitude for men and women alike. I have an 8 year old daughter and when she gets older, she WILL have one of your marvelous coasters to protect her from what you went through.

   What an incredible story and tremendous lesson of forgiveness and determination! Amazing author and an amazing story!

   This is a great book to read whether you are male or female. If you have daughters, be prepared to be very angry and extra protective!




3. Once I began reading the book, I couldn't put it down. It is more than just an ordinary book to read. It is a true life story that really happened. It made me realize that it could happen to anyone, including myself. I admire Sharon for having the courage to bare her soul to the world by writing this book. While reading I tried to imagine what it was like and simply couldn't get to that point. It was too difficult to even imagine some of the things she shared in the story.

   I would encourage everyone to read this book. Mothers should read it and pass it on to their daughters.

   Hats off to you Sharon for sharing this experience with me and the rest of the world!




4. Hello
   Like many of you, I love to read. I often get lost in books for hours and dream of one day writing one of my own. I was online one day looking for volunteer opportunities in rape crisis centers, shelters, etc. and I stumbled across www.watchyourdrink.com. I read the details on the website about the book, "Who's Watching Your Drink?" and immediately sought contact with the author. When I received the book a few days later after having asked her to send me a copy, I read it in one sitting. I was suprised, upset, crying, laughing - it was a mix of emotions because I could relate. When I was 15 I was date raped and that person had used GHB. To this day I still don't know everything that happened. It was comforting to know, though, that his woman was dedicating her time, money - life - into spreading awareness of these horrible occurrences. I would strongly suggest that every person buy this book. Statistics show that somewhere (now, don't quote me on this) around 1 out of every 4 women are sexually assaulted - before the age of 18! If you are one of the fortunate ones you haven't experienced this terrible assault, chances are you probably know someone who has. This book contains information on date rape drugs as well as the author's horrific experience. You will be shocked to see just how easily men and women fall into others' traps when they accept a beverage they themselves did not pour, or if they consume a drink they temporarily left unattended. Ms. Jackson wrote this book to educate others. Please check out this book. It helped ME to know I wasn't alone, and it also educated me. Hopefully, it could do the same for you.



5. Sharon Jackson's 'Who's Watching Your Drink?' is not an easy read, but it is a 'must'read. You will be stunned, outraged, angry and then thankful that Sharon was courageous enough to tell her story so that others could be warned of the increasing dangers of date rape drugs in our society. Mandatory reading if you are a parent! The drug coaster to test your drink that comes with the book and can be re-ordered is a stroke of genius! I now make the coasters available and emphasize date rape drugs at the monthly Reality Tour Drug Prevention program I direct in Butler, PA. This book will change lives and save lives! Give the book to students going off to college. I only wish the circumstances endured by Sharon were extremely rare. Her tools for recovery are just as remarkable as her willingness to suffer the sharing necessary to write the book.
   Thanks Sharon!

No comments about Mapping the Social Consequences of Alcohol Consumption.

3 comments about Substance Use Disorders: A Practical Guide.

1. What a great book! Finally, a readable, accurate guide--perfect for any medical clinician, his/her patients or the lay public. Dr. Gitlow uses interesting clinical vignettes to illustrate issues that are traditionally very tough to understand. Unlike other addiction/substance abuse books, this book is actually well written and comprehensible!! Whether used as a reference guide or as a textbook, it will serve as a standard in the industry for years to come. No interested party should be without a copy!! Thanks Dr. Gitlow!



2. This amazing little handbook is the perfect quick reference for nurses, physicians, and drug abuse counselors. Thank you, Dr. Gitlow.



3. This 261 page paperback is a must for anyone in the field of substance abuse or mental health. The book is small enough to conveniently carry around every day. It is not a textbook as the author notes. However, it contains 3 sections including General Principles of Substance Use Disorders, Substance Review (which covers every drug that any counselor will need to know about, including "club drugs", nicotine, etc.), and Substance Use Treatment. There are a number of appendices which include copies of screening examinations such as the CAGE, AUDIT, MAST, CIWA-Ar, CINA. There are also lists of published resources, certification boards, and useful websites.
   
   Throughout this highly readable book there are very helpful clinical vignettes, as well as Key Points and Notes made by the author which enhance one's understanding of the topic being discussed. There are charts and graphs, lists of which questions to ask, etc.
   
   As a clinician in a very busy Level One Trauma Center I have found this book to be invaluable. I know of none better, and if any readers do please enlighten me/us as we are always looking for helpful books such as these. Dr Gitlow has done a remarkable job of pullling together much information in a format that is quite user friendly, and reasonably priced as well. I give this guide my highest endorsement and will certainly continue to utilize it almost daily while awaiting a second addition when the time is right to release a new edition...

No comments about Drinking, Drugs & Driving (Drugs 101).

4 comments about Harm Reduction Psychotherapy: A New Treatment for Drug and Alcohol Problems.

1. Andrew Tatarsky and his contributors have brought the honesty, the sympathy, and the efficacy of harm reduction into the treatment of substance users, and it's about time!

   "Just Say No" has failed 95% of drug users who seek treatment to have better control over their life and their substance use. It has failed them because drug use is not a disease, and abstinence is not a cure. Men and women (and young men and young women) use drugs for their benefits, although drugs, of all kinds --licit and illicit-- are not without their risks.

   However the risk of developing a drug (and/or alcohol) problem does not derive solely from the drug. Tens of millions of people have had positive experiences with alcohol, marijuana, opiates, and psychydelic substances. Doesn't it make sense to identify what internal and what external factors cause a particular individual to suffer from a drug problem, rather than proclaiming drug use itself as a sickness.

   Standard abstinence therapies and their institutions function by glorifying guilt, helplessness, and continuous self degradation. Standard abstinence therapy fails the overwhelming majority of people.

   Tatarsky's book demonstrates, through well written and sympathetic case studies, another way to help people who have problems with their drug use, and it seems to be a better way. This book can make a huge difference in the lives of millions of people.




2. Those of us who struggle to control our own alcohol or drug use, or who live with someone who is trying to cut down or quit, may greet the harm reduction approach, persuasively presented by Dr. Andrew Tatarsky, as good news indeed. A practicing psychotherapist, Tatarsky is concerned with meeting clients "where they live": In the context of drug and alcohol abuse, this entails exploring the meanings these substances hold for the individual user and grounding the therapy in the process of self-discovery---rather than requiring abstinence from the outset, which is the traditional "one-size-fits-all" approach to counseling.

   The book describes ten cases, each from a different therapist who practiced "harm reduction" in treating his or her client. Many readers will be both riveted and moved by the experience of peering into these intimate sessions. The stories are well told (if somewhat unevenly written), and their subjects come across as real people. Even more compelling is Tatarsky's framing commentary, which draws out the significance of each case: the complex interaction of personal and social factors that led this particular individual to seek meaning (liberation, escape, validation) in drug use.

   As to alcohol abuse, which is a component in most of these case studies, the harm reduction approach is controversial in not prescribing an outcome from the start. It flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which holds that "problem drinkers" (read, alcoholics-in-the-making) lose control after just one or two drinks. The individuals portrayed so appealingly in this book are empowered by their therapists to explore the space between quitting altogether and drinking to excess. About half of them achieve stable moderation; the others discover for themselves that abstinence is the more comfortable and successful route to reducing the harm in their lives.

   Readers who are not clinicians but worry about these matters will find fresh insights in this accessible introduction to harm reduction. Personal change is an intensely emotional journey best undertaken in the company of a wise therapist or caring support group. The book should be read by every psychotherapist, social worker, and counselor who deals with problems of substance abuse, directly or indirectly---that would be just about all of them. Then, they might wish to recommend the book to those of their clients who are ready for it. This layperson was able to identify with both clients and clinicians, engaged together in life-changing work.




3. This book is wonderful. It gives me a new way to understand my clients struggling with abstinence from using substances. I love the case examples.



4. In my opinion, there are four post-12-step classics: Marlatt's "Harm Reduction," Peele's "Diseasing of America," Miller & Rollnick's "Motivational Interviewing," and Tatarsky's "Harm Reduction Psychotherapy." My suggestion - buy all four, read all four.
   
   Marlatt's "Harm Reduction" is a historically first (if I am not mistaken) overview of harm reduction paradigm. Peele's "Diseasing of America" is an intense but poignant critique of the 12-step "recovery industry." Miller & Rollnick's "Motivational Interviwing" is a primer on harnessing pseudo-resistance and leveraging motivation for change. Tatarsky's "Harm Reduction Psychotherapy" is a straight-forward harm reduction application book that starts its chapters from a panoramic bird's-eye view and then clinically bomb-dives into the application specifics.
   
   The book consists of 10 chapters, each consists of a nuanced analysis of the issues at hand with a relevant and indepth case study. Like all harm-reduction literature the book bristles with humanistic courage: it meets the clients "really" where they are, it validates the existential and adaptive valence of substance use, it encourages a clinically "libertarian" stance of respecting clients' goals, it bridges harm reduction with psychoanalysis and cognitive-behavioral schools of thought, it humanizes the substance use population by debunking the preconceived notions and assumptions that still bias so many of the front-line substance use providers, and most importantly the book reminds us that harm reduction is nothing new, that, in essence, it is not a new paradigm but a return to the good ol' humanistic, non-reductionistic, non-oversimplifying, client-centered clinical stance.
   
   I remember one of my first practicum sites. I was sharing - no, not an office wall, - a hallway with a Certified Addiction Counselor. This counselor, bless his good intentions, literally yelled and screamed at his clients loud enough for my own clients - across the hallway and behind the tightly shut door - to raise their brows. I don't mean to say that all CACs are like that. But this one - with Orwellian orthodoxy - was toeing a party line of abstinence with the cheer-leading vigor of the Volga bargemen, intoxicated with his own rightseousness...
   
   Tatarsky's book offers the dichotomizing "preachers" of the 12 Steps a humanistic out - by recognizing a whole spectrum of grey in between the black and white extremes of Abuse-Abstinence continuum, substance use clinicians no longer have to yell - in frustration - that anything that isn't white must be therefore black. Tatarsky's book reminds us not to over-simplify the meaning of substance use and illustrates this point particularly well in Ch. 5: "Complex Problems Require Complex Solutions."
   
   Tatarsky's "Harm Reduction Psychotherapy" is about that client-centered therapeutic silence that allows the clinician to tune in to the subtle winds of change that draft in between clients' pseudo-resistence responses.
   
   As such, Tatarsky's book is a rehab for those who run rehabs!
   
   
   Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
   Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, Nov. 2008) - a harm-reduction application to emotional eating; and author of "Recovery Equation: Motivational Enhancement/Choice Awareness/Use Prevention: an Innovative Clinical Curriculum for Susbstance Use Treatment (Booksurge, 2003).
   
   
   http://www.eatingthemoment.com/logotherapy-addiction/
   http://www.eatingthemoment.com/psychodrama-addiction/
   www.drsomov.com

No comments about Epidemiologic Field Methods in Psychiatry: The NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program.

No comments about Principles and Practice of Addictions in Psychiatry.

2 comments about A Meditation to Help You Recover from Alcohol & Other Drugs (The Recovery Series Health Journeys).

1. I was disappointed by this audiobook because it was too similar to the other two titles I have by this author. It does have some good affirmations for the first time listener, but I believe she could have added more substantial suggestions directed at those recovering from drugs and alcohol. As a counselor, I thought this might be something I'd like to use with my clients, but I don't think I will be.



2. I've been in recovery for 14 years, and try just about every resource I can, just to keep my healing journey fresh to myself. This tape is one of the finest I've heard. I agree with Melody Beattie - this imagery takes recovery to the next step, into the cellular level, and I would add, with deep and true psychological insight and rich spiritual support. I highly recommend it as a potent, effective adjunct to your 12 Step Program.

No comments about It Won't Happen to Me.

No comments about Social Groupwork and Alcoholism.