Group Psychotherapy and Recovery from Addiction: Carrying the Message / Edition 1

by Jeffrey D. Roth

Overview

Learn what it’s like to be a member of an addiction recovery group!

Group Psychotherapy and Recovery from Addiction: Carrying the Message is NOT a self-help book. Instead, it’s a rare opportunity to sit in on a virtual therapy group and take part in a virtual Twelve Step meeting. The book’s unique perspective lets you compare and contrast the experience of participating in a psychotherapy group and a Twelve Step group, including an examination of the Twelve Steps and The Twelve Traditions. The book demystifies the process of recovery, demonstrating all the important elements of the group process, including free association, resistance, transference, re-enactment, boundary management, interpretation, and confrontation.

Rather than relate shared stories of addicts in recovery or present abstract formulations on the group experience, Group Psychotherapy and Recovery from Addiction takes you inside the experiential process of recovery that can’t be achieved in isolation. Your experience as a group "member" will help solve the mystery of the group process and provide you with insight into the scientific elements of recovery as the book builds a bridge between the Twelve Step programs and a psychoanalytic model of group functioning.

Group Psychotherapy and Recovery from Addiction examines:

• how the group carries the message of recovery
• the higher power of the group as a symbol of authority
• the development of prayer and meditation as group analytic functions
• addiction as a family disease
• making amends as an export process
• powerlessness and free association
• unmanageability and resistance
• surrender and transference
• inventory and re-enactments
• humility and working through
• The Twelve Steps and The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
• and much more!

Group Psychotherapy and Recovery from Addiction: Carrying the Message is a unique resource for group therapists, addiction treatment professionals, and anyone else interested in group therapy—especially those who have personal experience with Twelve Step recovery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789016454
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/08/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeffrey D. Roth

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• A Note About the Fonts
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Addiction As a Family Disease
• Chapter 2. How the Group Carries the Message of Recovery
• Chapter 3. Powerlessness and Free Association
• Chapter 4. Unmanageability and Resistance
• Chapter 5. The Higher Power of the Group As a Symbol of Authority
• Chapter 6. Surrender and Transference
• Chapter 7. Inventory and Reenactments
• Chapter 8. Humility and Working Through
• Chapter 9. Making Amends As an Export Process
• Chapter 10. Continuing the Inventory and "Self-Analysis"
• Chapter 11. The Development of Prayer and Meditation As Group Analytic Functions
• Chapter 12. The Twelve Traditions: Boundaries and Containment
• Appendix A. Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
• Appendix B. Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
• Bibliography
• Index
• Reference Notes Included
  

Editorial Reviews

3 Stars from Doody

Reviewer: Patricia E. Murphy, PhD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: This book offers a creative approach to providing information about group process in the treatment of addiction. Rather than providing information in a cognitive manner, the author invites the reader to enter into a group of first person participants.
Purpose: Arising from a theory that addiction is a disease of isolation, the book's aim is to support an understanding of the primary role of group therapy in treatment. The style of the book allows the reader to enter into a group process and to learn from experience. For those willing to engage in this type of learning, the book is a great text.
Audience: The author makes clear that this is not a self-help book. Rather, it is a book intended for the use of those who work with persons who have addictions.
Features: The book has a unique style of asking the reader to join a group. Different fonts for each participant allow a conversation without the interruption of indicating the speaker. Some who are academically inclined might prefer a book based more on research. On the other hand, the professional who might not have time to attend a recovery group could develop helpful insights from the book's informal, though well developed approach.
Assessment: At first, the varied fonts seem off-putting. The reader might not bother to go any farther than leafing or flipping through the pages. However, spending time with this group is very educational. The author's well-reasoned approach and the clear description of the application of this method of healing makes this an extraordinary book that is apt to be of interest to those with education in psychiatry as well as to those with a less technical background.

Doody's Review Service