Addict in the House: A No-Nonsense Family Guide Through Addiction Recovery

This is a straightforward, rich resource for anyone who lives with, and loves, an addict. It is presented as an intimate, personal narrative to supplement the alarming statistics surrounding addiction. Having grown up in a household marked by addiction, behavioral health specialist Barnett is the ideal guide through a journey that, as she writes, is rocky at best. Rather than adopt the tone of an expert, which risks coming off as condescending, she writes as a fellow traveler. Navigating a life with an addict is not easy: the most basic aspects of communication are compromised, and freedom from the cycles that entangle most addicts’ families requires breaking long-established patterns. Barnett presents her discussion with the qualification that it is condensed, in keeping with the “no-nonsense” self-description of the title. Each chapter is introduced by the words of addicts, but readers seeking more detailed, first-person accounts will not find them here. And instead of answers, they will find a process, presented more as a hopeful beginning than an ultimate cure. [em](Aug.) [/em]