Product Description
Real-life solutions to help you now!
Watching a loved one immersed in an intense battle with alcohol and drug abuse may be the most difficult, complex and harrowing experience you ll ever have. This book offers a… More >>
Why Don’t They JUST QUIT?
Written by admin on September 8th, 2010 in Parenting & Families.
Tags: Don't, Just, Quit, They
Everyone’s heard an addict’s story – in one way or another. But, has anyone ever really understood it? From the opening page of this book, the reader is treated to real-life stories, practical tools and thought-provoking quotes that illustrate the journey to… through… and from addiction. The dynamics of the addict and their social structures are finally explained; from the environments they migrate to, the people they surround themselves with and finally, to the families that suffer as they watch their loved one’s battle with addiction. An addict does not have to be one who is addicted to alcohol, a narcotic or a prescription. It could be food, or acceptance, or the overwhelming need to ‘save’ someone. No one is left behind in their quest for information in ‘Why Don’t They Just Quit’. This book will help not only the addict who doesn’t yet ‘recognize’ themselves. But, it could also help the family and loved ones who just don’t get… why they don’t just quit!
This book is a page turning, ‘Most-Frequently-Asked-Questions’ life-manual for anyone who wants to understand addiction and how it happens. With it, an addict is given the map on how they got that way; and the tools they’ll need to find their way back. Family, friends and the addict’s significant others are encouraged to face the role they play in the addict’s life.
“Don’t clean me up… I need to remember – and see – what I have done.”
Everyone caught in the web of addiction are allowed, with this book, to interpret their actions and how they may be enabling the addict. Most of all, the addict learns to understand that quitting their addiction does not mean that they are no longer an addict… but that they are a recovering one.
To stop using… does not ‘fix’ you. You must fix you!
Being clean and sober does not mean ‘the cure’ has been found. That’s when the work really begins – because everyone in an addict’s life needs to recover.
“To stop… is to begin.”
‘Why Don’t They Just Quit’ is an amazing testimonial to the struggles of everyone involved in addiction. It describes the tools to be ‘well’; and prompts the courage to use them! Kudos to the author(s) to understand that people are interested in what the “bystanders” go through when someone they love is addicted. I think there are a lot of books written about/to the addict, but not so many about those whose lives are affected… and how they cope. I think that the “Al-Anon world” would be very interested. Everyone… should be interested in this book.
Review by: Robin R. Rogers – Author of ROCK BOTTOM
Rating: 5 / 5
One of the most frustrating and demoralizing experiences men and women have is watching the horrifically destructive impact of addiction upon the health, life, and relationships of a loved one. Often the disastrous consequences of addiction are so severe that we are led to shake our heads and wonder why the addict cannot simply stop the addiction that has so enslaved and ruined them. In “Why Don’t They Just Quit?: What Families And Friends Need To Know About Addiction And Recovery”, drawing upon thirteen years as an addiction counselor working in the Colorado criminal justice system, Joe Herzanek (himself a recovering addict who founded and presides over the Changing Lives Foundation) provides answers to more than thirty common (and not so common) questions that non-addicts have with respect to a loved one’s addiction. Herzanek explains with illustrative clarity why addicts don’t really have to hit ‘rock bottom’ before they are willing to be helped; when helping an addict is counter-productive; why quitting an addiction is not the same thing as recovering from that addiction; how to deal with an addict who has relapsed; how to obtain a 50% (or more) reduction in the medical costs of addiction treatments; why a parent would leave their own child due to a parent’s addiction; why an effective intervention need not be an ambush-style confrontation with the addict. Articulate, ‘real-world’ practical, thoroughly ‘user friendly’, and strongly recommended reading, “Why Don’t They Just Quit?” is also available on DVD. Counseling centers and community libraries are particularly encouraged to buy a “Why Don’t They Just Quit?” book/DVD set for $39.95 to provide their patients and patrons with the alternatives of a book or DVD format.
Rating: 5 / 5
Family members often have nowhere to go with their concerns about their addicted loved one. What do I do? How do I help? How do I balance my love for my child (husband, wife, friend) and my desire to protect them from harmful consequences with the need to do everything within my power to get them help? “Help” almost always means bringing the problem into the open — asking friends and family for support, emergency room visits, legal interventions, admitting openly and honestly what drug use and addiction have done to your family — and most of us hide away, hoping the problem will resolve itself over time. But addiction is a progressive disease and over time, things will get worse. Joe Herzanek’s factual, fascinating book offers compassion for family members, solid evidence-based information about the disease, answers to commonly asked questions, and most important of all, a sense that you are not alone. As the author of several books on addiction and recovery, I know how important it is to have solid, effective, caring, experience-based information about drug use and addiction — especially for the scared, tired, shamed, blamed family members. This book is an invaluable addition to the literature on addiction. If you or someone you know needs help, buy this book and pass it around to your friends and family members. Almost every family in this country is affected directly or indirectly by drug use. We have to do everything we can to help people understand what they are facing, using facts support by scientific research, and fighting the stigma that keeps so many hurting people hiding away in silence and shame. This book is an important and essential resource for family members, teachers, court services personnel, counselors, treatment personnel, ministers, doctors, and anyone whose life is affected by alcohol and other drug use/addiction.
Kathy Ketcham, coauthor, Teens Under the Influence: The Truth About Kids, Alcohol, and Other Drugs- How to Recognize the Problem and What to Do About It; Broken; Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism; Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism; The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning
Rating: 5 / 5
I recently purchased the DVD and book on “Why Don’t They Just Quit” by Joe Herzanek. Having a son with a severe alcohol/drug abuse problem, who has been through more than one treatment program, I was desperately looking for answers, not hype or glitter. I consider “Why Don’t They Just Quit” to be my “Bible” on drug abuse issues affecting the addict and the families. Mr. Herzanek lays it out in a straightforward way, using his and other’s personal experiences to clarify the how and why of addiction and recovery. This is a must have tool for anyone that is impacted by a loved one’s addiction.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have read several books and literature on Alcoholism and this is my favorite one. I highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with addiction or knows someone struggling with addiction. Mr. Herzanek shares some real-life stories that we all can relate to. He speaks from experience because he himself has come a long way in recovery from his addictions. This book tells of ways you can show the addict “tough love” and ways of “bringing up their bottom” while still loving them and having hope that one day they will “get it”. It also gives hope to the addict that no matter how bad things are, it CAN get better!!!
Rating: 5 / 5