Recourses

Nobody has had an answer for why people with addictions continue to repeat them -- until now.

For more than twenty years, distinguished psychiatrist Dr. Lance Dodes has been successfully helping people master their addictions -- alcoholism, compulsive gambling, smoking, sexual addiction, and more with a radical approach. Dr. Dodes describes how all addictions have, at their heart, unrecognized emotional factors that explain:

Why we feel the impulse
Why we feel it when we do
What alternatives (really) work in that critical moment
In this refreshing book filled with compelling case studies, Dr. Dodes debunks several such widely accepted myths as:

Addictions are fundamentally a physical problem.
People with addictions are different from other people.
You have to hit bottom before you can get well.
You are wasting your time if you ask "why" you have an addiction.

A powerful exposé of Alcoholics Anonymous, 12-step programs, and the rehab industry—and how a failed addiction treatment model came to dominate America.

“A humane, science-based, global view of addiction . . . an essential, bracing critique of the rehab industry and its ideological foundations that we have much to learn from.”
—Gabor Maté M.D., author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts

Alcoholics Anonymous has become so infused in our society that it is practically synonymous with addiction recovery. Yet the evidence shows that AA has only a 5–10 percent success rate—hardly better than no treatment at all. Despite this, doctors, employers, and judges regularly refer addicted people to treatment programs and rehab facilities based on the 12-step model.

In The Sober Truth, acclaimed addiction specialist Dr. Lance Dodes exposes the deeply flawed science that the 12-step industry has used to support its programs. Dr. Dodes analyzes dozens of studies to reveal a startling pattern of errors, misjudgments, and biases. He also pores over the research to highlight the best peer-reviewed studies available and discovers that they reach a grim consensus on the program’s overall success.

“Dr. Dodes’s approach runs directly counter to the paralyzing, but standard, message of ‘powerlessness’—a mes­sage that reinforces the sense of helplessness that is at the root of addicts’ life predicaments! Many psychiatrists recognize that this is where we must head, but Dr. Dodes is one with the guts to shine a beacon in the right direction.”

—Stanton Peele, PhD, author of 7 Tools to Beat Addiction and The Life Process Program of Treatment



The follow-up to his groundbreaking volume The Heart of Addiction, Dr. Lance Dodes’s Breaking Addiction is a step-by-step guide to beating addiction of any kind—from drugs and gambling to alcoholism, overeating, and sex addiction. By recognizing and understanding the emotional forces underlying addictive behaviors, Dr. Dodes says any dangerous, life-destroying obsession can be overcome. Including special bonus sections for both families and health-care professionals, Breaking Addiction is the new handbook for those suffering from addiction—a valuable resource that addresses addiction’s root causes and serves as an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and similar recovery programs.