Transcending Addiction


Book Description

Addiction is often thought about in terms of cause, be that brain chemistry, attachment patterns or cognitive schemas. But this does not allow an understanding of what addiction "is". It does not illuminate how addiction is lived. A phenomenology of addiction reveals that addiction is characterised by an intolerance of pain, a pursuit of pleasure, immediacy, technocratic solutions, alienation, ambiguity and is drenched in deception. These are its individual clinical manifestations, but this is also the way life, in this century, is lived. The addict is thus the ultimate 21st century subject, consuming without end, intolerant of emotion and unable to grasp their own limitations. Rather than embraced, these subjects act as a denied symptom, haunting late capitalism and exposing the vampire-like nature of our culture. As such, these subjects need to be treated not just as individuals who have "gone too far", but as victims of the political agenda shaping our lives. Thus the heart of the book is a description of addiction deepened by existential-phenomenological theory. This description is then used to understand the historical emergence of addiction, its socio-political manifestation and also the crucial issue of how to clinically treat the addict-subject.




The Secret of Recovery


Book Description

A new cutting edge experiential approach to the science and spirituality of recovery . An enlightened approach to transcending the pitfalls and conditioning of trauma, addiction, codependency and life in general.




Transcending Addiction and Other Afflictions


Book Description

This volume sheds new light on addiction and other ailments, detailing a recipe for transcendence. The author describes pattern addiction as the root of a variety of psychologicl and physical afflictions including what is traditionally called addiction. Drug addiction offers one of the most tangible examples of patterning and some of the most tangible evidence that addiction to a pattern can be transcended. Pattern addiction is part of the human condition. It frequently manifests itself in explicit symptoms such as drug addiction, physical pain, chronic ailments including ulcers, and even cancer. Implicit pattern addictions are built over a long period of time because most neurological programming takes place over time. This patterning becomes detrimental when the pattern is harmful to the emotional, physical, and/or spiritual well-being of the individual (or his family or community). All too often, medicine treats the explicit symptoms of an affliction without correcting the underlying and more implicit pattern addictions. This is due, in part, to the inability of current medical theory to do more.




Transcending Hell,Manifesting a Zen Spiritual Path in Recovery from Addiction and Alcoholism


Book Description

Long term recovery from alcoholism and addiction isn't easy. While many find initial success in sobriety, securing ongoing happiness, peace of mind, and a meaningful life often seems maddeningly illusive. Transcending Hell offers an approach to sustained recovery that incorporates a Zen sitting practice with more traditional avenues of sobriety.




How to Change Your Mind


Book Description

Now on Netflix as a 4-part documentary series! “Pollan keeps you turning the pages . . . cleareyed and assured.” —New York Times A #1 New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018, and New York Times Notable Book A brilliant and brave investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists inadvertently catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research. A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.




Never Enough


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a renowned behavioral neuroscientist and recovering addict, a rare page-turning work of science that draws on personal insights to reveal how drugs work, the dangerous hold they can take on the brain, and the surprising way to combat today's epidemic of addiction. Judith Grisel was a daily drug user and college dropout when she began to consider that her addiction might have a cure, one that she herself could perhaps discover by studying the brain. Now, after twenty-five years as a neuroscientist, she shares what she and other scientists have learned about addiction, enriched by captivating glimpses of her personal journey. In Never Enough, Grisel reveals the unfortunate bottom line of all regular drug use: there is no such thing as a free lunch. All drugs act on the brain in a way that diminishes their enjoyable effects and creates unpleasant ones with repeated use. Yet they have their appeal, and Grisel draws on anecdotes both comic and tragic from her own days of using as she limns the science behind the love of various drugs, from marijuana to alcohol, opiates to psychedelics, speed to spice. With more than one in five people over the age of fourteen addicted, drug abuse has been called the most formidable health problem worldwide, and Grisel delves with compassion into the science of this scourge. She points to what is different about the brains of addicts even before they first pick up a drink or drug, highlights the changes that take place in the brain and behavior as a result of chronic using, and shares the surprising hidden gifts of personality that addiction can expose. She describes what drove her to addiction, what helped her recover, and her belief that a “cure” for addiction will not be found in our individual brains but in the way we interact with our communities. Set apart by its color, candor, and bell-clear writing, Never Enough is a revelatory look at the roles drugs play in all of our lives and offers crucial new insight into how we can solve the epidemic of abuse.




Transcendence


Book Description

In this definitive book on the scientifically proven health and stress-relieving benefits of Transcendental Meditation, a renowned psychiatrist and researcher explores why TM works, what it can do, and how to use it for maximum effect.




Transcending Crisis by Attending to Care, Emotion, and Flourishing


Book Description

This book offers new empirical research and policy-relevant care practices from across the globe to understand the interrelation of care, emotion, and flourishing in the context of acute and persistent crises. From COVID-19 responses around the world to the opioid epidemic in the United States, this volume investigates collective and individual crises as symptoms of underlying systemic pathologies. Crises require deep engagement with both structure and culture, drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from sociology, nursing, social work, and psychology. Addressing the multi-level challenges of caregiving in families, schools, organizations, and communities, this book presents examples of research and practice that demonstrate compassion, resilience, productive collaboration, and flourishing. It documents the social conditions and processes that spawn effective solutions and positive emotional and health outcomes, which often occur amid chaos, rapid social change, and substantial suffering. The first section focuses on care, emotions, and flourishing in healthcare and educational contexts to examine nurses, students, and teachers as they respond to enduring and acute crises. Section two turns to community and family contexts to understand how emotions and care intertwine in the flourishing practices of women and communities facing isolation during COVID-19, parents of opioid users, and international efforts to address child abuse and healthy aging. Geographically, the book covers experiences in Canada, Ghana, India, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each chapter discusses how we can move from managing emotions and coping with crisis to transcending crisis and promoting flourishing. The book includes case studies that illustrate hopeful and successful practices that might help us meet the challenges we face in this moment and move through them with compassion and enhanced flourishing. Examining care across a range of professional contexts, including healthcare, education, community, and family settings, the authors explore similarities and differences in how these contexts shape care practices in light of collective threats and crises. This book is also a valuable contribution to the literatures on health and illness, the sociology of emotions, and the interdisciplinary field of well-being and flourishing.




Toward a Phenomenology of Addiction: Embodiment, Technology, Transcendence


Book Description

This book addresses an epidemic that has developed on a global scale, and, which under the heading of “addiction,” presents a new narrative about the travails of the human predicament. The book introduces phenomenological motifs, such as desire, embodiment, and temporality, to uncover the existential roots of addiction, and develops Martin Heidegger’s insights into technology to uncover the challenge of becoming a self within the impulsiveness and depersonalization of our digital age. By charting a new path of philosophical inquiry, the book allows a pervasive, cultural phenomenon, ordinarily reserved to psychology, to speak as a referendum about the danger which technology poses to us on a daily basis. In this regard, addiction ceases to be merely a clinical malady, and instead becomes a “signpost” to exposing a hidden danger posed by the assimilation of our culture within a technological framework.




Addiction Treatment


Book Description

Addiction Treatment provides a solid foundation for understanding addiction as a treatable illness and for establishing a framework for effective treatment in the twenty-first century.