Rethinking Excessive Habits and Addictive Behaviors

(Hardback)

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Twelve step programs are the foundation of conventional thinking and treatment for people with addictive behaviors. But are they truly the best Here, Tony Bevacqua explains why these one-size-fits-all approaches are not appropriate for everyone, since each person is a unique human being.. This book takes a humanistic perspective that offers guidance for sufferers, their families and friends, practitioners, and anyone interested in understanding the nature of addictive behaviors. What do we know about addictive behavior and mental health Bevacqua maintains our common perceptions are loaded with outdated, emotionally charged, and deficit-based vocabulary. Words like addiction, addict, alcoholic, denial, recovery, clean, and others have become absorbed into our vocabulary but conjure up the worst case descriptions of undesirable behavior. These labels are generalized to all behaviors and to all people regardless of the details of their specific circumstances. By rethinking and changing the language, new learning can take place, and new approaches to treatment can emerge. While biology may play a role in addiction, the author argues that the disease model strips sufferers of their ability to see their issues as within their control to address. Understanding the role of learning and behavior allows people to redefine addiction in terms of their own personal circumstances, allowing that the brain is an organ of social adaptation and is constantly able to wire and rewire itself through enriched environments and new learning. Bevacqua proposes a language that also supports an individual with kindness, compassion and empathy and suggests ways in which this new perspective and approach, can help individuals improve the quality of their thinking which will improve the quality of their behavior.

Reviews

Looking at the interconnectedness of addiction, relapse, and 12-step programs,Bevacqua (apersonal coach,practicing psychologist, and teacher of psychology) offers an excellent explanation of why 12-step programs often fail their participants. Drawing from his own experience, the author rejects the reductionist ideals of powerlessness that underlie the ubiquitous 12-step programs and treatment centers, providing articulate, needed criticism of the pathologizing nature of 12-step programs and the high rates of relapse among participants. He advocates for individualized, integrative treatment rooted in humanistic principles and cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness interventions. In providing this accessible, long-overdue examination of the etiology and treatment of addictive behaviors, the author provides readersincluding individuals who struggle with addictive behaviorswith a compassionate framework for understanding what drives these problematic behaviors. Students will find here a critical argument against the disease model; clinicians working with addiction will find both a path away from the one-size-fits-all approach to addiction and support for offering clients lasting change. In sum, this is a thoughtful, readable argument for modernizing societys conceptualization and treatment of addiction. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. * CHOICE *
The author makes an at times impassioned case regarding the American healthcare systems inability to provide individual support to patients, instead relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. Included is a helpful summary of addictions support in the USA, dating back to the American Temperance movement of the 1830s to the post-Prohibition establishment of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) movement in the 1930s.... Bevacqua utilizes motivational interviewing techniques within his clinical work and highlights the importance of mindfulness strategies within the field of addictions. He advocates for autonomous thinking to best support his patients progress towards self-directed and lasting change. * Alcohol and Alcoholism *
Tony Bevacqua, a successful life coach and therapist, has added his voice to the growing chorus of those discontented with traditional 12-step and disease treatment in his book, Rethinking Excessive Habits and Addictive Behaviors. Tony brings to this task an engaging writing style, a wide knowledge of psychology and of modern treatment practices, and a grasp of the human condition steeped in his own long career working with people with relationship, addictive and substance problems. -- Stanton Peele, Ph.D., pioneer of non-12-step approaches to addictive problems, author (with Ilse Thompson) of Recover! Stop Thinking Like an Addict
Tony Bevacqua's highly readable book blasts through the fog of confused and rigid thinking about addiction to present a humane, informed, and common-sense approach to understanding and taming uncontrolled behavior. -- Sally Satel, M.D., practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at the Yale University School of Medicine

Author Bio

Tony Bevacqua is an accomplished educator, corporate coach, social advocate and lecturer. He teaches college psychology courses, leads corporate wellness seminars and has a private practice in Los Angeles coaching people who have a desire to better understand their self-determining nature. He has contributed articles to theJournal of Humanistic PsychologyandAddiction Professional Magazine.