I. What Is Addiction?

1. A Bewildering Illness

2. What Makes Someone an Addict, as Opposed to a Heavy Drinker or Recreational User?

3. How Addiction Affects the Brain

4. Why Do Some People Become Addicts and Others Don’t?

5. So Is Addiction a Disease? (and If Not, What Is It?)

6. Why Do People Get Addicted to One Particular Substance and Not Others?

7. What About Gambling Addiction, Sex Addiction, Etc.?

II. Living with an Addict

8. How Addicts Behave

9. How Loved Ones Are Affected

10. Denial, Enabling, and Codependency

11. The Stigma of Addiction

12. Strategies to Get a Loved One into Treatment

13. How to Cope When a Loved One Is Refusing Treatment

14. Dealing with a Child Who Is an Addict

15. Dealing with a Spouse Who is an Addict

16. Dealing with a Parent Who Is an Addict

III. Keeping an Addict Out of Trouble

17. Can an Employee Be Fired for Being an Addict?

18. Drug Courts and Other Ways to Keep an Addict Out of Jail

19. Using Civil Commitment to Keep an Addict Safe

20. More Ways to Protect an Addict from Harm

IV. How Treatment Works

21. Can Addicts Get Well without Treatment?

22. A Brief Overview of Treatment Options

23. What Really Happens in Detox?

24. What Really Happens in Rehab?

25. How to Find a Good Rehab—and Pay for It

26. Psychotherapy Approaches That Are Used for Addicts

27. Drugs That Treat Alcohol Abuse

28. Drugs That Treat Opioid Abuse

29. Does Alcoholics Anonymous Actually Work?

30. AA-Type Groups for Addictions Other than Alcohol

31. Alternative Support Groups for People Who Don’t Like AA

32. When an Addict Has Other Mental Health Problems

V. What to Expect in Recovery

33. What to Expect in Early Recovery

34. What Causes Relapse?

35. How to Prevent Relapse

36. What to Do If a Relapse Happens

37. Managing Addiction as a Long-Term Chronic Illness

Resources