Recover to Live: Kick any Habit, Manage Any Addiction by Christopher Kennedy Lawford

I managed to get my hands on a review copy of Recover to Live: Kick any Habit, Manage Any Addiction. It is written by Christopher Kennedy Lawford who is also the author of a bestselling memoir of addiction called Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption. I’ve not yet had a chance to read any of his earlier work (I probably will after this), but the bits of his story that I’ve picked up online make it clear that he is an inspirational character with a powerful message. The author has been sober for over a quarter of a century, and he has dedicated his life to helping people break away from addiction. Christopher is the son of Patricia Kennedy and the nephew of John F. Kennedy.

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When I started reading Recover to Live I wasn’t expecting much. I began by looking at the chapter headings, but it all seemed to be material that I’d read hundreds of times before. One of my more bizarre behaviors as a habitual drunk was to spend my afternoon in a bar with a good book on addiction and recovery. I’d keep on reading until the words became illegible, and by then I’d be ready to begin lecturing my fellow drinking companions. This was my ritual for years, and it got to the stage where I sort of felt a bit odd to be out boozing without this self help material to tuck into as I drank. I’ve read a ton of recovery books, and when I saw the contents for Recover to Live I wrongly concluded that it would be more of the same.

It turns out that Recover to Live is an exceptionally informative read, and I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in recovery. I disagree with some of the ideas and claims, but that’s not a problem because the book provides information on many different approaches to addiction treatment. Christopher is not just simply giving his own opinion but is sharing the views of over 100 of the world’s top experts on the subject. It is the fact that it contains all these different voices that makes it such an important book.

I originally intended to treat Recover to Live like a textbook, and to just dip into the bits that interested me, but it is such an absorbing read that I went from cover to cover. Christopher has a knack of repackaging old information in such a way that it is not boring for those of us who may have read this stuff before. There is also plenty of new information and ideas.

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Recover to Live has tons of information and lots of different viewpoints, but I sort of felt that Christopher pushes the 12 step programs a bit excessively at times. He admits that this approach is not for everyone, but on a couple of occasions it sounds like he is almost blaming people for not getting the program. I find this type of 12 Step apologetics to be unhelpful because it implies that other approaches are somehow inferior. I think it’s unfair to suggest that people fail in these groups because they didn’t try hard enough. The truth is that this approach to recovery simply does not work for everyone, through no fault of their own, and they should try something else. At the end of the day though, the 12 Steps are what worked for Christopher so it is understandable that he would want to promote this treatment.

Best Book on Addiction?

I read some of the comments on Amazon and more than one person said that this is one of the best books they have read on addiction. I agree. It probably contains most of the important knowledge we have at the moment for dealing with addiction problems, and it presents this information in a readable way. He even talks about things like body work and acupuncture. Christopher doesn’t just limit himself to alcohol and drug addiction – he also has chapters on sex addiction, hoarding, gambling, cigarette addiction, and eating disorders. He provides plenty of citations for those of us who want to dig deeper into the information. It looks like Christopher has another best seller on his hands and hopefully this book will encourage more people to escape addiction.