Compassionate Understanding of the Nature of Addiction - Book Report/Review Example

The Mindful Path to addiction recovery is a book that has a practical guide towards regaining control over the life of an individual. Lawrence Peltz is the author of the book, and he worked as a psychiatrist for more than two decades. He is the medical director of the Bournewood facility o drugs and alcohol treatment. In addition to, he is an instructor of the mindfulness-based stress decline. He regularly talks of the mental health professionals. He also argues that the mind plays a crucial part in the recovery of individuals. His clinical experience helps him to understand the techniques of mindfulness-based stress reduction. He explains the essential dynamics of addiction and the stages of significant of a recovery process. His experience teaches individuals of particular mindfulness. He also has a private practice in psychotherapy and he has been in the Harvard medical school. The author offers a mindful and compassionate understanding of the nature of addiction. He feels that attention is the ground of healing from addiction. He talks about the experiences of individuals who have had undergone through the path of recovery and makeover. He feels that habits are directly related to distress and suffering. An interesting book which offers many options for medical practitioners dealing with healing and transformation. The book is easy to read, understand, which provides sensible means of overcoming conditions mostly addiction. The book provides treatment options like acceptance, creating awareness, and being thoughtful is possible to bring relief and regaining lost happiness in our life. The book covers addiction in a unique way and enlightens addicts through a beautiful and thoughtful journey that will help initiate the recovery process (Peltz 2). This process is grounded in compassion and being mindful of our selves. The author covers real life situations in the book that intends to intervene by ensuring addicts are well informed and perform certain activities. The author includes all this while being sensitive to human life and their experiences. The book has gained broad acceptance in mental health professionals because of its combined moments, which is mindful. Most health professional use the book as an addition to treatment because addicts seek ways of escaping from emotional pain. Fear or pain is the main cause for emotional pain in addicts. The book has developed acceptance and self-compassion, which are easy to practice. The author, Dr. Lawrence has worked for two decades as a psychiatrist draws his experiences and expresses it in the book to explain addiction and the stages that will help addicts recover. The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery book was released on 2013 and its cover designed by Jim Zaccaria (Peltz 6). The book has four main topics. The book uses various characters to develop his story. Trumpets Books were the publishers of the book, which is located in Boston, Massachusetts. They book begins with Smokey, who has a quote about being madly in love with her lover although she treats her unfairly. This is a form of addiction. Roger is a character in the book. He had been an addict to alcohol and had undergone treatment, which was successful. He remained sober for some years until he met a young woman whom they had met in the alcohol detox program. They had a bad experience together and were to undergo another round of treatment. The character learns unique about him on the program that he was vulnerable to romantic relationships. Roger returned to the program for a third time after being released reason being he was addicted to gambling. He involved himself in gambling after he retired from employment, which ruined his financial income that he had invested. One day when traveling to the casino, he had feelings of anticipation mixed with fear. It was because he wished he could win but feared losing. Roger had experienced different forms of addiction (Peltz 19). The book covers various forms of addiction. Being madly in love is a form of addiction. Love is a feeling mostly between opposites. Lovers at first are perfect in every aspect of life. They have a beautiful voice, looks and they fill our hearts with joy and affection. They are seen as heaven sent and view them as a blessing. They are strongly attracted to each other’s characters but only for a period. Hell sets in after they are back from honeymoon. The lovers now see each other as annoying, less perfect, and hard to handle. However, they start enduring each other, and their love deepens. They are patient, and act mature making it easy to work together. This kind of love is the same love that one develops when addicted to drugs and alcohol (Peltz 19). They seem incomplete when they have not consumed them. This excavates addiction, which leads to reduced pleasure and increasing cost. The character got addicted to practices and was not able to make a reasonable judgment of situations that faced him. As addiction advances the part of the mind responsible for making the right decision functions less, and the mind settles for other agendas that are not right. Addict’s heart closes down and the ability for wise decision-making hindered. Jim is addicted to alcohol and is hard for him to undertake any work without taking alcohol. Even during leisure, mostly at home he takes alcohol due to various reasons. This behavior has led to misunderstanding between the couples and Karen is thinking of leaving him. (Peltz 16) The characters represented well in the book to ensure that he meets the goal of the book. The characters and their state of life well explained and described. Their state of addiction and the level of the consequences they face help the reader internalize. The author makes the characters credible in his plot, from how he befriends a woman to how he keeps going to the casino to gamble. The author only uses two character and focus a lot of effort to make him expressed in perfect manner. Although there are only two main characters Roger and Jim, Roger gets to be the best character in the book. Program to help addict regain the control of their lifestyle is insidious. Many mostly finish the program when destitute, dead, sick, or mentally ill. The author states that he advises his patients that they are a select group. Most of the patients in the program come for the treatment due to pressure by the legal teams, parents, spouse, and bosses (Peltz 23). Some patients find a way to escape treatment with some hiding out. This is a little funny, during treatment there is need to focus, committed, and in no circumstance should they be pushed to go for treatment. The book encourages addicts to be self-compassion because the feeling of guilt and self-judgment usually increases. Most users suffer despair and feel unworthy of the society. It is sad that this feeling result to death in users with most of them committing suicide. Mindfulness is another guide to recovery from addiction. Mindfulness helps in creating awareness in us rather than judging. Thoughts and feeling are what eliminates any person from addiction. (Peltz 16) The book provides various answers to real life questions. Questions like why people mostly use drugs, which a real doctor is in a situation. A real doctor is you. A person-smoking cigarette will try to hide his acts when they encounter with the doctor because it is evident from newspapers and televisions that cigarettes are harmful. The book explains various thoughts that addicts have when consuming the drug. Some take drugs because of the energy that comes together with it while others do not know why they consume it. The main reasons that people use drugs are to escape from certain feelings, get rid of a feeling, or to get a sense(Peltz 24). The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery is an excellent book for various health workers who try to provide steps and guides to addicts of any kind in the society. The book is effective in maintaining the goal it seeks to achieve and let the book remain the same with no part of it changed. The book will best suit any person because it covers a range of addiction that people face. Right from love addiction to drug addiction the book explains steps that will be beneficial in overcoming them. Works Cited Peltz, Lawrence. The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery. Boston: Trumpets Book, 2013. Print. Read More