Addiction Dilemmas: Family Experiences from Literature and Research and Their Lessons for Practice / Edition 1

by Jim Orford

Overview

Addiction Dilemmas explores the impact of addiction on those closest to the individuals affected and their families. Drawing on a wide range of sources, the book discusses the stresses and strains that family members are subjected to, the dilemmas that they face, and the coping strategies that they have found useful.

• Draws on a unique breadth of material to illustrate the dilemmas faced by family members in coping with a close relative's addiction
• Raises questions and points to controversies rather than dispensing prescriptive "one size fits all" advice
• Brings together accounts from research interviews, biography, autobiography and relevant fiction in a creative and original way
• Tackles common misunderstandings at public, practitioner, scholarly and policy levels about the predicaments that family members commonly find themselves in
• Each chapter closes with a commentary, questions and exercises designed to further develop understanding for professionals and students

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470977026
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jim Orford is Emeritus Professor of Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Birmingham. His books on addiction include Excessive Appetites: A Psychological View of Addictions (2e 2001) and An Unsafe Bet?: The Dangerous Rise of Gambling and the Debate We Should Be Having (2010).

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Sources and Acknowledgements xiii

1. We'll Be There for Him: A Family Responds to Relapse 1

2. Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill 9

3. Tough Love: A Television Studio Discussion 15

4. Wives of Gamblers 21

5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë 31

6. British SikhWives and Daughters Stand Up toMen's Drinking 38

7. Nil By Mouth: A Film by Gary Oldman 46

8. Worrying for Drinkers in Aboriginal Australia 52

9. A Prodigal Son: The Mother's Story 65

10. Parents of Problem Gamblers 75

11. The Tale of Caitlin Thomas 88

12. Dylan Thomas in America by John Malcolm Brinnin 103

13. An Imaginary Conversation:Wives in Mexico, England, South Korea and Italy 111

14. Father Figure by Beverley Nichols 124

15. Growing Up with My Mother by Virginia Ironside 131

16. Mrs Sara Coleridge and Friends 138

17. Five Husbands ofWives with Drinking Problems: A Focus Group 153

18. A Chancer by James Kelman 169

19. Growing Up with ParentsWho Drink Excessively: Four Stories 175

20. Baudelaire and His Mother in Chains 185

21. Fever Pitch by Richard Brooks 194

22. I Only Had the Baby'sWelfare at Heart: Concerned Grandmothers 199

Further Reading 207

Index 209

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Professor Orford is one of the most distinguished researchers of the addictions today. In this book he aims to counter the neglect and misunderstanding faced by families affected by addiction – an estimated one million worldwide- and to highlight the personal, professional and public policy dilemmas. By drawing on personal accounts from fiction, autobiography and Professor Orford’s own international research programme, the voices of children, wives, grandparents and friends spring to life. The penetrating and sensitive commentary, and thought-provoking questions and exercises make this book invaluable for practitioners, researchers and family members. It demonstrates the many shared experiences of family members across continents and over time, whether alcohol, drug misuse or gambling is involved.
—Judith Harwin, Professor of Social Work, Brunel University, UK

Editorial Reviews

Although the book may lend itself best to a studentleadership, its diversity and links to the addiction literaturewill make it of interest to a wide range of professionals, as wellas all who have had any personal contact with addiction.” (The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1 May 2012)

 

From the Publisher