Product Description

Finally someone has gone straight to the real experts: hundreds of men and women who have resolved a drinking problem. The best-selling author Anne M. Fletcher asked them a simple question: how did you do it? The result is the first completely unbiased guide for problem drinkers, one that shatters long-held assumptions about alcohol recovery.

Myth: AA is the only way to get sober.
Reality: More than half the people Fletcher surveyed recovered without AA.

Myth: You can't get sober on your own.
Reality: Many people got sober by themselves.

Myth: One drink inevitably leads right back to the bottle.
Reality: A small number of people find they can have an occasional drink.

Myth: There's nothing you can do for someone with a drinking problem until he or she is ready.
Reality: Family and friends can make a big difference if they know how to help.

Weaving together the success stories of ordinary people and the latest scientific research on the subject, Fletcher uncovers a vital truth: no single path to sobriety is right for every individual. There are many ways to get sober - and stay sober. SOBER FOR GOOD is for anyone who has ever struggled not to drink, coped with someone who has a drinking problem, or secretly wondered, "Do I drink too much?"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24298 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-17
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com
Anne M. Fletcher resolved her own drinking problem without Alcoholics Anonymous and was fascinated by other people who had found alternative methods to stop drinking. In the spirit of her first book, Thin for Life, for which she interviewed "masters" who had lost weight and kept it off, she decided to find people who formerly had drinking problems and learn how they got and stayed sober. She interviewed a range of ex-drinkers, from high-functioning people with mild or moderate alcohol problems to hardcore cases who had hit bottom. The amount of alcohol consumed ranged from three daily drinks to two daily quarts of vodka. Almost all these 222 "masters" had stayed sober for 5 years or more, averaging 13 years of sobriety.

Sober for Good presents their stories: when they started drinking, how much they drank, how it affected their lives, why they decided to stop, what they tried, what finally worked for them, and their perspective now. The stories are compelling on their own, and Fletcher organizes them according to common themes and strategies. She also includes helpful information about different programs available and relevant research studies.

This book takes some controversial stances. Fletcher chooses to use phrases like drinking problems and alcohol problems rather than alcoholic because she sees alcoholic as both outmoded and pejorative. Many of the masters found sobriety through AA, but more found alternative solutions, leading Fletcher to dispute the one-path solution. And although most of the masters abstain from alcohol completely, some have alcohol occasionally, challenging the accepted contention that abstinence is the only solution. Read what the masters say and judge for yourself. --Joan Price

From Publishers Weekly
Although Alcoholics Anonymous has long been the preferred (and often court-mandated) regimen for the treatment of alcoholism, its ideology isn't for everyone. As Fletcher (Thin for Life) points out, some people are put off by AA's religious tone, others by the concept of powerlessness over alcohol. And, she says, contrary to AA beliefs, many more never "hit bottom," but nonetheless choose to reconsider their relationship with drinking. Additionally, she suggests, with managed care drastically cutting coverage of inpatient treatment, people with alcohol problems need to know about outpatient alternatives to AA. Fletcher, a health and medical journalist, provides a compendium of such approaches, drawing on the voices of "masters" former problem drinkers who have resolved their problems with alcohol and been sober for at least five years. Programs such as Women for Sobriety, Rational Recovery and Moderation Management provide a variety of approaches, and the "masters" themselves offer a collection of strategies for getting and staying sober with support groups, chemical dependency counselors or a combination of treatments. Unfortunately, Fletcher draws a fuzzy line between "problem drinkers" and "alcoholics," a word she avoids because some find it "pejorative." Maintaining that the distress and dysfunction of most people with drinking problems is not as "severe" as that associated with a stereotypical drunk, she promises that, although AA proponents insist otherwise, "you can quit on your own," "you don't have to quit altogether" and "you don't have to call yourself an alcoholic." Though she sometimes appears to bash AA, Fletcher provides a useful overview of the varieties of recovery programs and practices.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Transcending the mental health/ addictions genre, Fletcher uses her gift for narrative to describe the results of a disciplined survey of how 222 people got their drinking under control. Her intelligent guide to alcohol problems doesn't rely on simplistic dogma to make its points. A seamless array of superbly told stories highlights people in all segments of society who, each in his or her own way, declared their lives would be better sober. The effect is that all 9 hours (packaged in a lovely box, by the way) will encourage even the casual listener to take a heartfelt look at the many faces of alcohol abuse and recovery. T.W. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

This Book Is Dangerously Misleading
the elevator is broken.
the escalator is out of order

PLEASE USE THE STEPS!

they're numbered for a reason.

Fantastic Book
This phenomenally well-researched book will be so helpful to anyone trying to get on top of a drinking problem because it offers a number of avenues for help. That is, it shows that there are a lot of roads to recovery, which is great because when it comes to dealing with excessive alcohol use, a one-size-fits-all solution is too narrow to accommodate everyone's needs.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks this book delivers -- and provides the backup to make its points. The latest edition shows that Sober for Good has received the Outstanding Contributions to Advancing the Understanding of Addictions Award from the American Psychological Association; the Research Society on Alcoholism Journalism Award; the Distinguished Friend to Behavior Therapy Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; and a National Health Information Award. In other words, because author Fletcher has really done her homework, millions with an alcohol addiction will be able to get help that previously eluded them.

dangerously misguided, fundamentally flawed
Surely Anne M. Fletcher means well. Just as surely, she is living proof that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Ms. Fletcher's "Sober for Good" would be merely annoying if the subject matter wasn't so vitally important. But addiction is a life and death issue, and to publish a volume of work this injudicious is reprehensible. As someone who has intimate experience with addiction in more ways than I ever wanted, someone who has become more thoroughly educated on the subject than I ever dreamed would be necessary, it is imperative that I use this opportunity to caution anyone and everyone who reads this book. This book is dangerously misleading! Do not use this book as a guide. There are dozens if not hundreds of books out there that will provide you with well-researched, reliable, rational assistance in your search to find the answers to addiction. "Sober for Good" is NOT one of them. "Beyond the Influence," by Katherine Ketcham and William Asbury; "Dying for a Drink," by Anderson Spickard, Jr. and Barbara Thompson; even "Broken," by William Cope Moyers, are all superior sources for those who are hungry for information on this heartbreaking subject. I cannot stress this enough: Anne M. Fletcher's book is seriously flawed, alarmingly inaccurate, and potentially as deadly to the uninformed reader as the disease of addiction itself. The only value I can find in the work is as an antithesis to the solid body of hard-earned knowledge that does exist.