Addictive Thinking, Second Edition: Understanding Self-Deception
By:
Abraham J. Twerski
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Lowest New Price: $8.77
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Description:
using vivid examples and case studies, the author exposes the irrational and contradictory patterns of addictive thinking, and shows how to overcome them and the barriers they create; low self-esteem and relapse.
Publisher: Hazelden Publishing
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Unlock additive thinking! - This book is easy to read, yet it is "meaty". It is is chock full of great information and really helped me to understand, relate to and help unravel the distorted thinking patterns of a loved one who struggles with addiction. I highly recommend this book for anyone who struggles with an addiction of any sort or has a loved one who does. Great book! I plan on reading it again as soon as possible.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Addictive Thinking: Understanding Self-Deception - Very insightful and helpful to understand how the brain works and operates regarding addiction.
The stories and examples are great too.
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Who, me, self-deceived? You heard it here! - I picked this book up off my colleague's desk in the counseling office, realized I shouldn't take it without asking permission, and made my amends right away. With permission, then, I read with some shame, and also guilt, about self-deception. The crux: distorted thinking is not just manufactured for others, but something that inhabits the inner person. As a result, we can see it, explore it, recognize it in others, and still struggle to make lasting changes in our own thinking.
Twerski writes after 18 years running a clinic, and he has lots of the simple examples and plain talk that cut through the haze. He is a fan of AA's 12 steps and he believes low self-esteem haunts many an addicts' inner child. He has a website with a recent 40 minute reflection on his own struggle with self-esteem. He's now almost 80.
As some other reviewers note, after the first couple chapters introducing and defining the distorted thinking he calls "addictive thinking," the chapters get short, like meditations, and topical, covering aspects such as distorted time, reason, and perspective, hypersensitivity, shame versus guilt, and admitting error. I think the point we could make is that this book seeks to identify and describe the distorted thinking common in chemical dependents. Believe me, I don't have to be chemically dependent to see myself in these vignettes and struggles.
The reason for such a book is that we all need to pierce our own isolation and denial about our self-deception. Let me put it this way. If I don't deceive myself too much, it should be easier for me to admit that. If I deceive myself a lot, I just might find a way to distance myself from a book like this, maybe by putting myself above it or pointing it at someone else. Did I mention there is a short chapter on denial, rationalization, and projection?
Enough said. If you're interested in self-deception, distorted thinking, and how it plays into addictions, I think you'll like this fast read from an old school Rabbi, psychiatrist, and addictions counselor.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
A Must-Have - I have been using this book for years. Worked directly in addiction in rehab for women with children for ten years. Work with adolescents now. Twerski has nailed it--the nature of addictive thinking and how this self deception effects the addicts reltionship to self and everyone around her. It has helped me tremendously in my work.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
This is a great Book! - This book is a great book to help you understand the way addictive thinking people think. It's amazing how far it gois!!
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