WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING ABOUT "OVERCOMING YOUR ALCOHOL, DRUG & RECOVERY HABITS"   “Jim DeSena  joins a long list of those familiar with alcoholism treatment who note that the king has no clothes - that AA and the 12 steps help a minority of alcoholics at the cost of selling them a nonsensical bill of goods.  Jim's journey through the field makes for both fun reading and for important insights about ways out of alcoholism that most people will find more helpful than 12-step mumbo jumbo.” Stanton Peele, Ph.D., Author of: The Truth About Addiction and Recovery     “If you have doubts about what happens in 12-step oriented treatment, and no place to turn for a fresh perspective, this book is for you!” A. Thomas Horvath, Ph.D., FAClinP President, Practical Recovery Services, La Jolla, CA President, SMART Recovery President (1999-2000), Division on Addictions, American Psychological Association Author of: Sex, Drugs, Gambling & Chocolate: A Workbook for Overcoming Addictions     “It is incredibly well written, thoughtful, truthful, and incisive. The method Jim outlines for Discovery instead of recovery is inspired. I hope many who are not satisfied with AA and its Program will read his book and find answers to some of their questions. The book is a wonderful addition to the literature on alternatives to AA as well as exposing some of the harder truths behind the AA message.” Marianne Gilliam, Author of: How Alcoholics Anonymous Failed Me     “Let’s confront the unpleasant reality and say it out loud, ‘AA doesn’t work for many of the people struggling to overcome alcohol and other drug problems and yet there continue to be precious few treatment alternatives.’  Don’t despair if you’ve tried the traditional route and failed.  Follow  James DeSena’s suggestions for Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits and finding your own path to sobriety.” Scott D. Miller, Ph.D. Co-founder, Talkingcure.com Author of: Working with the Problem Drinker and The Miracle Method: A Radically New Approach to Problem Drinking     “Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits does a fine job of exposing the lies and harmful effects of AA and 12-step treatment.  This book will provide a welcome ray of hope to the many, many individuals who have gone through AA and 12-step treatment, yet continue to relapse.  It will help them get off this exceptionally destructive merry-go-round.” Charles Bufe, Author of: Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?, co-author of Resisting 12-Step Coercion: How to Fight Forced Participation in AA, NA, or 12-Step Treatment     “Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits by James DeSena  is a self-help book about quitting an addiction. Written especially for people who are bogged down by AA's approach,  DeSena exposes and debunks many of AA's teachings that some people find insulting, absurd, and self-defeating. Then he presents a theory of quitting an addiction that works through effort and a new set of beliefs, which does not rely on religious ideas. If you haven't gotten the help you expected from AA, read this book.”  Philip Tate, Ph.D., Author of: Alcohol: How to Give It Up and Be Glad You Did     “Jim DeSena’s powerful 'quit for good' abstinence approach short- circuits distorted thinking and empowers addicted persons to reclaim their lives.  This book celebrates freedom-from-addiction alternatives and is a welcome addition to the alcoholism literature.” James Christopher, C.A.S. Founder, Secular Organizations for Sobriety       Addiction "specialists" claim that, "Treatment works."  Since treatment works so well, how many times has Joan Kennedy been subjected to 12-step addiction treatment? a) Twice, b) 5 times, c) 9 times, d) 13 times,     e) 18 times  Joan's "treatments," (and myriad others subjected to addiction "treatment" just like her) line the coffers of America's addiction treatment industry to the tune of $12-billion-dollars yearly.  CLICK HERE to learn "how well" treatment has worked for Joan Kennedy.    (Please give the file a moment to download.)   "Feed me," says the hungry Rehab Cash Register Read Dr. Joe Gerstein's opening remarks to "Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug & Recovery Habits"   Introduction                   I am a physician.             If a patient of mine turned out to have a cancerous breast lump of a certain common type, I would sit with her and discuss in detail her options for treatment.  The options would, naturally, be based on an up-to-date assessment of the information available in the medical literature and would include modified radical mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast) and lumpectomy (removal of the lump with a modest amount of normal tissue around it) followed by radiation therapy.  Medical research has demonstrated that either approach would have the same outcome, in terms of survival.  A middle-aged woman with severe emphysema or a frail elderly woman with multiple, severe medical problems might receive the added option of doing nothing, on the presumption that either treatment might be more likely to be detrimental than doing nothing.               Any deviation from this general scenario would likely result in a disciplinary action by the state Board of Medical Licensure.  A physician who offered only one of the two options would probably even have his or her license summarily suspended pending a hearing on more severe sanctions, so heinous a deviation from ethical medical behavior would this be considered.                      Yet, this very scenario will be enacted a thousand times daily, all over America, as people with severe alcohol problems seek or are coerced to seek advice about treatment in offices, clinics, Emergency Units and Detoxification Units.             We have a situation in which both licensed professionals and laypeople with only their personal experience in overcoming alcohol dependence and informal training, either through ignorance or fanatic zeal or stubbornness or monolithic training, offer only one treatment option to their clients despite prodigious amounts of scientific evidence that many other reasonable alternatives exist and make no attempt whatsoever to determine which of these might offer the greatest opportunity for success, which might coincide with the clients religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) and/or temperamental peculiarities or preferences.              I should know.  For the first 20 years of my medical practice career, that is exactly what I did.  That’s how I was trained.  That’s what I was told. And that’s what I did…out of ignorance, not out of malice.                        Now I know better.  Jim DeSena, in this volume, delineates clearly and in detail that this “one size fits all” approach to alcohol abuse and dependence is as archaic as leech application. It is time for the healing professionals to get over this “Berlin Wall” mentality and open themselves to the bright light of thousands of outcome studies (including the huge MATCH study), which amply demonstrate that there is more than one way to skin a cat.                        Also, as Jim DeSena demonstrates, the fundamental Hippocratic precept “First, Do No Harm,” is also abrogated on a daily basis.  There are those who are harmed by the inappropriate referral because they lose precious time, during which their lives continue to unravel, perhaps never to be raveled again.  There are those who decide to resist the prescribed treatment, which they perceive as alien and therefore get no appropriate treatment.  And, there  are  those  who come to be convinced to accept beliefs, which lead them to believe they are incorrigible, beliefs, which are inapplicable to them and will permanently prevent them from recovering because of this factor alone.             This is a perverse train of events.  Just because a treatment may be proper and effective for some people does not mean that it must be good for everyone.  Medical studies usually require a “control” group because it is recognized that practically all treatments have a propensity for negative results as well as positive and that failure of the treatment is not automatically attributable to the bad intentions or incompetence of the patient.  And what about all those, probably the majority, who will recover spontaneously.  Must they, too, be condemned to a life of daily meetings and to carry the disparaging descriptor “alcoholic” for the rest of their natural lives even if they don’t ever drink alcohol again?              Jim DeSena’s excellent book is one more cogent and eloquent plaint for a rational, humane and scientifically validated approach to proper matching of clients with addiction problems to treatment appropriate for them.             Joseph Gerstein, M.D., FACP Harvard Medical School     You Can Stop Recovering and Start DISCOVERING Too!! This Book Delivers!,                                    February 2, 2004                                                                        Reviewer: Joan O'Neal from New York, NY USA As an empowering alternative to AA and 12-step treatment, Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits: An Empowering Alternative to AA and 12-Step Treatment delivers what it promises. What's more, in addition to the empirically based alternative explained in his book, DeSena offers further alternatives in the Appendix titled, "Abstinence-Based Alternatives to 12-Step Treatment." For those interested in pursuing moderation, he even outlines the leading moderation-based programs. Filled with sound advice, DeSena's writings don't hold back when critiquing America's 12-step based addiction treatment industry. Considering rehab recidivism and the atrociously low sobriety success rate of traditional 12-step treatment and its ensuing "follow-up care" through AA attendance, the author does a just, objective and accurate job in citing the many pitfalls that far too many people are unaware of in 12-step treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous. Undoubtedly, there will be those readers who view DeSena's writings as anti AA/12-step because he dares to tell it like it is. But pointing out what's wrong with traditional treatment and AA packs a powerful punch and shows the author's understanding of this "treatment" and why alternatives are so sorely needed. In this reviewer's opinion, it's evident that DeSena isn't anti AA/12-step in as much as he's pro-choice in addiction treatment. Virtually everyone who has been subjected to addiction treatment as practiced in the United States knows that 12-step "recovery" is the mainstay of treatment. Clearly, DeSena would like the still suffering substance abuser to know of ALL his or her choices for overcoming their destructive addictive behavior. The service and information  DeSena offers addicts/alcoholics (and their families) is exceptional. Knowing my options has empowered me to pursue the sobriety path that makes sense and is right for me. I'm grateful to have found this book.   Read this Book and be Aware of the Following: March 26, 2003 Reviewer: C. Albert Sorensen, M.D. Miami, Florida I am a physician who has worked in addiction medicine for many years. I read Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits after reading all the reviews at Amazon.com. Since it's against Amazon.com rules to comment on specific reviews, I will say that I felt compelled to write this review because there are dogmatic "recovery" thinkers who will make false statements about the contents of this book to deceive you. Please know that DeSena goes beyond the traditional treatment/recovery mindset, which routinely stresses, (unconstructively for many) that the substance abuser's "deep emotional troubles" are the root cause of their addictions. Simply stated, there is no universal law of addiction that states there MUST be some deep, troubling emotion(s) underlying all addictive behavior. There is again no universal law for overcoming an addiction that requires said "deep emotions" to be "treated." Furthermore, using religious mumbo-jumbo and talk of God, these "recovery experts" will insist that you can only manage your emotions and maintain your sobriety with Divine guidance. Such propaganda is a proselytizing tactic used to convert the substance abuser to the "recovery expert's" particular theological beliefs. Traditional addiction treatment focuses excessively on emotions both during the treatment phase and for dealing with life post addiction. While managing your emotions is important, your emotions are not as unmanageable as most addiction treatment providers and the recovering community would have you believe. In fact DeSena notes the following in reference to emotions: "Addiction therapists want to analyze your emotional/psychological disturbances. By dint of mastering ones addictive behavior, these disturbances typically fade and emotional stability and general well-being often follow within a few weeks of stopping drinking/drugging..." This is something the traditional addiction treatment providers don't want you to know. Nonetheless, DeSena empowers the reader by showing him or her how to develop emotional security and self-reliance. He explains how your thinking creates your emotions/feelings and offers solid advice based on empirical evidence to show you how to better manage your thinking, which in turn leads to healthier, positive emotions-even if some tragedy should befall you. He addresses this through the "Downsize story" and he talks of how to attain a new perspective of your circumstances and environment to help you fine-tune your healthier, positive emotions. This is particularly helpful during sobriety's early days when emotions can run high and the urge to intoxicate is strongest. It is equally helpful for handling post addiction urges and for dealing with life's ever changing conditions as you live your newly sober life. Many people simply want to end their self-defeating addictions and get on with their lives. They want to escape the "God speeches," and the incessant babble of miracles, which encompass the recovering mentality. Nevertheless, God is paramount in many people's lives whether or not addiction is an issue. Indeed, DeSena talks about pursuing God, religion and spirituality when you want, with whom you want, and if you want-not because you have to pursue them as the means to get and stay sober-and not because you must pursue them to handle your emotions, either. The choice to incorporate them into your life is YOURS, not zealous missionaries who masquerade as addiction/recovery counselors and experts on emotions. So, read Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits. I heartily recommend it. It exposes, (with candor and at times with fitting, well placed humor) recovery/addiction treatment nonsense. It contains the proven methods used by those who know how to end their self-defeating addiction(s), manage their lives and emotions, and who also live quite happily. This book gives you all that and more without the sermons of theistic extremists who evangelize their particular brand of God controlled recovery in callous disregard of the truth, your needs and your sensibilities.   This Book Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving,            March 28, 2003 Reviewer: Brenda Santoro from New Haven, CT, USA Jim DeSena's book goes beyond what I had been searching for. While I had read many of the alternative AA recovery books and found them very helpful, it was Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits that I found extremely helpful. As if the words were written especially for me, this book spoke to me like no other. The information in this book answered the gnawing questions about "recovery" that have plagued me for years. For one, all of the alternative books still spoke of recovering from alcohol and drugs. At best, they spoke of becoming fully recovered. But none of the alternative books ever suggested discarding the "recovery," "recovering," "recovered" mentality as DeSena's book does. His use of the word, "Discovery" instead of recovery was a liberating breath of fresh air. I found this concept alone to be most empowering. Also, DeSena's unique look at the recovery process really hit home. This is a process that for many people in "recovery," DeSena terms, "The Recovery Merry-Go-Round." Rehab after rehab, therapist after therapist, and AA meeting after AA meeting was the recovery merry-go-round that I had been spinning on for years. Yet after all that, I never felt secure with my "sobriety." My "sobriety" was a merely a temporary "gift," given one-day-at-a-time, which I could only keep if I continued working the AA program and attending meetings. I truly believe that all that is behind me now. I have chalked up my recovering past to a hard lesson that I'll never repeat. I've begun to live a recovery-free life of Discovery. It's something I never dreamed possible, but it is possible. I now know what freedom feels like. And for me, it's not only freedom from alcohol and drugs, (I finally feel secure about my sobriety) but it's also freedom from a lifetime of meetings and recovering. Now that's a real gift! It's clear why the title of  DeSena's book speaks of overcoming your alcohol, drug AND recovery habits. This book has changed my life. Thank you, Jim DeSena, thank you.   The Real Truth Betty Ford Will Never Tell You! February 6, 2003 Reviewer: benjiabbott2 from Sherman Oaks, CA USA After eight years of "recovering," three stints in rehab, countless AA meetings, countless hours spent with Certified Alcohol Counselors (CAC's), and shrinks----I am finally free----Free from a lifetime of "recovering," free from rehabs, free from AA, free from counselors, shrinks, and most importantly, I'm finally free from my self-destructive addiction to booze. This is a true, gut-feeling freedom I never experienced during my eight-year association with the one-day-at-time "recovering" community of Alcoholics Anonymous. For this, I will be forever grateful for finding Jim DeSena's powerful and liberating book, Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits: An Empowering Alternative to AA and 12-Step Treatment. DeSena has put into words what clearly many "recovering" people think and feel, but are too afraid, embarrassed, scared or intimidated to say: That AA and 12-step programs are NOT the universal answer for everyone when it comes to beating an addiction, or for living thier lives post-addiction. CAC's, therapists, rehabs and the addiction/recovery "experts" are, for the most part, ALL AA "Moonies." It's obvious that those who have found what they believe to be the "spiritual solution" to beating alcoholism/addiction promote it with religious zeal. Rarely are addicted folks offered alternative modes of recovery even when it's blatantly clear that the 12-step "recovery" method is not helping them. I should know, I lived it, or should I say, I endured it for eight grueling years. Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits has opened my eyes to an array of methods and alternative 12-step programs that the addiction treatment "experts" NEVER offered me. And all these alternatives have great things to offer. It baffles me why rehabs and addiction/recovery "experts" withhold this lifesaving information to those needlessly struggling in the 12-step method. Regardless of how many people the "experts" claim AA has "helped," it simply DOES NOT benefit everyone. Do we prescribe only one diet plan to everyone who desires to lose weight? This knowledge alone, that alternatives do exist, has instilled in me a sense of control over my behavior and a peace of mind I never knew in AA, because my struggles with sobriety were ALWAYS blamed on my "denial," or my failure to "work a good 12-step program." It is said that "good things come to those who wait." Well, I've waited eight years and the best thing that could ever happen to me has happened. I've liberated myself from what DeSena terms, "The recovery merry-go-round." I have reclaimed my life. I urge anyone who is struggling in his or her "recovery" to give Jim DeSena's book a careful read. Give yourself the opportunity to free yourself not only from addiction, but also from a lifetime of dreary meetings with a "recovering" community that walks on eggshells, because their "sobriety" only lasts for 24-hour clips. Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits will show you how to beat your addiction for good, not recover from it one-day-at-a-time. As DeSena's explains in his book, "Once you discover what you're actually up against, quitting alcohol and other drugs will become a learned skill well within your ability, like learning to ride a bicycle. Yes, You'll be a bit wobbly at first, but once you've learned---it's over! There's no need for daily practice---or one-day-at-a-time recovery." You have everything to gain and nothing to loose except your self-defeating addictions, a lifetime of "recovering" and the disempowering label of "alcoholic/addict" for life.   Lifesaving, Stimulating, Provocative and Truthful Jan. 29, 2003 Reviewer: JJ Simone from Dallas, TX. USA                                       At last! You have a choice! Addiction/Recovery researcher and author Jim DeSena has written a powerful and compelling book. The information in his tome will not only improve the lives of countless individuals who are unduly struggling with addiction in ineffective treatment and recovery programs, but he has written a book that will save lives. If alcohol or other drugs are ruining your life, ruining the life of a friend or loved one, then you owe it to them and to yourself to learn of ALL your recovery options. Jim DeSena gives you those options. AA and 12-step treatment are but one way, and not a particularly effective way. When you consider rehab recidivism (Approximately 95% of America's rehab centers are based on AA's 12-step program---and many unwitting souls have endured this "treatment" four, five, six times and more.) and the relapse rate among AA members, which reaches the 90 plus percentile, (according to AA's own triennial surveys) you can't afford NOT to read Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits: An Empowering Alternative to AA and 12-Step Treatment. Furthermore, as Jim DeSena exposes in his book, AA's own most recent surveys reveal huge dropout rates: 75% after ten meetings, and 95% before one year. Of the 5% who last a year, only 45% reach at least five years sobriety. This means that fewer than three in 100 people entering AA achieve five years sobriety. And, incredibly, Alcoholics Anonymous is still touted by the addiction/recovery "experts" as the only thing that works! The sad fact is that AA works very well-for very few. I repeat, you can't afford NOT to read Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits: An Empowering Alternative to AA and 12-Step Treatment.    To order your copy of "Overcoming Your Alcohol, Drug and Recovery Habits," Click here.