Addicted?: Recognizing Destructive Behaviors Before It's Too Late

by Marilyn Freimuth

Overview

Addicted? presents different ways to recognize the early and often subtle signs of addiction—much in the same way we learn to detect the early signs of cancer. But, unlike cancer, where people rush to get treatment as soon as they recognize the signs, an addiction typically is faced with great guilt and ambivalence. Addicted? provides questionnaires that screen for a wide array of chemical and behavioral addictions at all stages of development, and ends with a step-by-step guide for how to prepare oneself or someone else to overcome addiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742569379
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/29/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Marilyn Freimuth is professor of clinical psychology at the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California, where she specializes in substance abuse diagnosis and addiction treatment. She also maintains a private practice in Wisconsin.

Table of Contents

Getting to Know Addiction     1
The Problem: Recognizing Addiction When It's Too Late     7
The New Look of Addiction     18
The Making of an Addiction     34
The Continuum: Early to Late Stage Addiction     47
Addiction's Many Masks     58
Addiction's Self-Disguises     70
Subtle Signs of Addiction     78
Unmasking Addiction     87
Unmasking Substance Addictions     93
Adolescent Substance Use: Experimentation or Addiction?     113
The Unseen Faces of Addiction: Older Adults and Women     130
Gambling Addiction     141
Computer Addiction     156
Sex and Cybersex Addictions     169
Buying Addiction     183
Exercise Addiction     194
Getting Help for an Addiction     207
Unmasking Addiction and Preparing for Change     211
Impediments to Effective Helping     240
An Overview of Addiction-Induced Psychological and Physical Changes     255
Common Addictive Substances     261
References     265
Index     279

Editorial Reviews

Addicted? should be required reading for all therapists and everyone who suspects that they or their loved ones might be an addict. If you want to know how to spot an addict, read this book If you want to know the causes and consequences of addiction as well as ways to treat it, read this book. Addicts lead secret, double lives; now, at long last, this book strips off the mask of the addict, strips away the layers of clinical and societal confusion, and speaks the truth about our deeply addicted culture.

Sue William Silverman

Marilyn Freimuth's Addicted? offers an eye-opening survey of addiction, one that thoroughly explores adolescent and adult substance abuse, moving on to such behaviors as buying, computer use, gambling, sex and cybersex, and exercise. The book presents tools for recognizing destructive behaviors, as well as suggestions for help. Using clear examples and powerful resources, Addicted? de-stigmatizes addiction and offers hope for those who struggle, whether adolescent, young adult, aging adult, or concerned friends and family. Addicted? is a book to read at first suspicion, when you may be already wondering how it could have happened.

Chris Volkmann

Addicted: Recognizing Destructive Behavior Before It's Too Late by Marilyn Freimuth, should be first on anyone's list who wonders if a loved one, or even themselves, is showing the first signs of addiction. This book will help distinguish between a bad habit, a compulsion, a good habit and so on.

Citizen Patriot

Despite all the suffering it causes, addiction often remains unrecognized and misunderstood. In her new book, Addicted?” Dr. Freimuth provides a clinically wise approach to figuring out whether you or a loved one suffers with this problem. This book is important and will be of great help to many. I very much recommend it.

Lance Dodes

Addicted? is a guide for taking action against the deception of addiction, while there's still time. A must-read for anyone facing the deception, denial and desperation of addiction.

William Cope Moyers