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Product Description
Product Description
Up to a quarter of the UK population is currently believed to misuse alcohol. This first self-help book aimed specifically at problem drinking uses an approach based on real clinical practice, first to recognize alcohol misuse and then, using proven Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques, to show the drinker how to turn the tables and regain control of alcohol consumption. For anyone who feels alcohol is beginning to rule their lives, this is an indispensable guide, combining the expertise of psychologists and those working in the medical profession. It also shows how to enlist the help of friends and family.
About the Author
Info about the author: Marcantonio Spada is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at London Metropolitan University and a psychotherapist at the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Centre, London. He has extensive experience working with problem drinking having worked for four years as an alcohol counsellor at the City and Hackney Alcohol Service and has written a number of academic articles on alcohol use and drinking behaviour.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had a problem with drinking. I found Marcantonio Spada's book, Overcoming Problem Drinking, very useful in overcoming that problem. The book contains a clear characterisation of problem drinking and an explanation of what causes it. And a main strength of the book is its focus upon exercises and practical strategies, which the reader is encouraged to do and apply. Through doing the exercises and applying the strategies, I was able to overcome my problem.
Particular emphasis is placed upon the relationship between negative emotions and problem drinking. It is shown how, to a large extent, problem drinking is a case of being dependent upon alcohol to cope with unpleasant emotions. For example, the book explains how negative emotions (e.g. anxiety) result in positive thoughts about alcohol (e.g. "A drink will make me feel better"), which in turn lead to alcohol cravings. It also shows how an unbalanced life (e.g. working all the time) results in negative emotions; and how poor life skills (e.g. being poor at handling crticism) results in negative emotions or an inability to deal effectively with them. Exercises are provided to help the reader identify and respond to the various kinds of thoughts that bring about problem drinking. Doing these exercises helped me overcome my problem. Advice and strategies are provided for leading a balanced life and developing life skills. Through following the advice and applying the strategies, I became better able to deal with the everyday pressures of life without drinking. Techniques are given for resisting alcohol cravings; through applying them, I was able, on many occasions, to prevent slips. Also, advice is given about learning from slips and preventing them in the future.
Overall, Spada's book is well structured, clear, concise, and easy to understand. It tells you what you need to know and provides a do-able programme for overcoming problem drinking. And speaking from personal experience, the programme really does work.
Particular emphasis is placed upon the relationship between negative emotions and problem drinking. It is shown how, to a large extent, problem drinking is a case of being dependent upon alcohol to cope with unpleasant emotions. For example, the book explains how negative emotions (e.g. anxiety) result in positive thoughts about alcohol (e.g. "A drink will make me feel better"), which in turn lead to alcohol cravings. It also shows how an unbalanced life (e.g. working all the time) results in negative emotions; and how poor life skills (e.g. being poor at handling crticism) results in negative emotions or an inability to deal effectively with them. Exercises are provided to help the reader identify and respond to the various kinds of thoughts that bring about problem drinking. Doing these exercises helped me overcome my problem. Advice and strategies are provided for leading a balanced life and developing life skills. Through following the advice and applying the strategies, I became better able to deal with the everyday pressures of life without drinking. Techniques are given for resisting alcohol cravings; through applying them, I was able, on many occasions, to prevent slips. Also, advice is given about learning from slips and preventing them in the future.
Overall, Spada's book is well structured, clear, concise, and easy to understand. It tells you what you need to know and provides a do-able programme for overcoming problem drinking. And speaking from personal experience, the programme really does work.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dr Spada has written an extremely useful manual which can provide guidance to anyone experiencing alcohol dependency problems. His book is almost uniquely tailored to appeal to the range of problem drinkers, from those who drink upon waking - to individuals who find themselves binge drinking only at weekends.
While the techniques which are presented are in the mold of classic CBT responses to such problems, Dr Spada understands problem drinking not as a pathological situation in which drastic measures, treatments, or particular lifetime commitments are necessarily essential. As such, he is able to lay out a programme of techniques which - given the right level of commitment and effort - may be followed by anyone. Dr Spada's approach enables the reader to examine his or her habitual behavioural responses to unmanageable feelings or beliefs, with encouragement to acknowledge and challenge those beliefs which will have undoubtedly lead to the drinking in the first place.
Having had a wide exposure to similar self-help manuals over many years, I am delighted to find a book which does not make the drinker feel blamed or hopelessly ill with his problem. The message of the book is that of providing for the drinker a positive vision of the future when drinking is no longer a problem - and therefore of the possibility of escape from the revolving door of drink and the negative feelings which both create the dilemma, and are created by it.
While the techniques which are presented are in the mold of classic CBT responses to such problems, Dr Spada understands problem drinking not as a pathological situation in which drastic measures, treatments, or particular lifetime commitments are necessarily essential. As such, he is able to lay out a programme of techniques which - given the right level of commitment and effort - may be followed by anyone. Dr Spada's approach enables the reader to examine his or her habitual behavioural responses to unmanageable feelings or beliefs, with encouragement to acknowledge and challenge those beliefs which will have undoubtedly lead to the drinking in the first place.
Having had a wide exposure to similar self-help manuals over many years, I am delighted to find a book which does not make the drinker feel blamed or hopelessly ill with his problem. The message of the book is that of providing for the drinker a positive vision of the future when drinking is no longer a problem - and therefore of the possibility of escape from the revolving door of drink and the negative feelings which both create the dilemma, and are created by it.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book and, I believe, the only one of its kind. I have not come across any other self-help programme for problem drinking based on cognitive behaviour therapy principles. I recommend it highly.
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