PRAISE FOR RECOVER TO LIVE
“Christopher Lawford’s Recover to Live is not only a personally revealing bible of hope and an encyclopedia for those struggling with addictions and their families, friends, and colleagues, it is a robust anthem to inspire the recovery community to come together to make our nation and this world a better place for all of us.”
JOSEPH A. CALIFANO, JR., Founder and Chair, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University; Former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
“This is an important book by a genuine and insightful man. He is articulate on his subject and clearly researched it to within an inch of its life. If you don’t read it you should buy it and hit yourself on the head with it. Especially if you’re reading it on a computer.”
RUSSELL BRAND, Actor/Comedian
“Christopher Kennedy Lawford’s new book Recover to Live will be a force with the power to educate as well as motivate transformational personal change. Recover to Live may alter the way broader society looks at the disease of addiction and those who are suffering from it.”
DREW PINSKY, MD, Host, Dr. Drew
“There’s great wisdom, insight, and knowledge in this book. Recover to Live will help ease the suffering of addicts and their families. It will help repair broken lives and save some.”
DAVID SHEFF, New York Times Bestselling Author, Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction
“Personal, documented, and relevant is Christopher Lawford’s strong and clear message on the Seven Toxic Compulsions that devastate many lives throughout the world. His new book, Recover to Live, addresses the serious matter of dependency. It’s a great book for your medicine cabinet.”
BOB MARTINEZ, Former Governor of Florida, Drug Czar under President George H. W. Bush
“The best way to read Christopher Lawford’s Recover to Live is with a highlighter. Chris’s book is filled with such clinical history. Best of all, this book offers hope. Chris Lawford knows about recovery because he’s living it.”
CHRIS MATTHEWS, Author, Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero; Anchor, MSNBC’s Hardball
“No disease ever got the help it needed until people who knew the problem spoke out. Chris Lawford is one of those people who speaks the truth about addiction. Addiction has many faces, and Chris Lawford unmasks the variety of ways addiction is our number one public health problem.”
PATRICK CARNES, PHD, CAS, Psychologist and Former Clinical Director of Sexual Disorders Services, The Meadows, Wickenburg, Arizona; Author, Out of the Shadows
“Recover to Live will give you the best information available about the illness of addiction.”
MARTIN SHEEN, Emmy Award-Winning Actor and Activist
“Far too many families have suffered the devastating impacts of addiction, and far too few people have the tools to deal with this fast-growing epidemic. Christopher Lawford’s Recover to Live gives hope to those who are seeking answers and effective strategies to overcome this life-threatening disease. His personal experience, empathy, and insight make this an indispensable guide to those yearning to break the chains of addiction. I encourage anyone who seeks a clearer understanding of the dangers of addiction and path to recovery to read this compelling and informative work.”
REP. MARY BONO MACK, U.S. Rep. (R-Calif.), 2003–present
“Recover to Live is a lifeline for anyone drowning in addiction. There is hope and a better life is possible.”
LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Host, CNBC’s The Kudlow Report
“One of the clearest and most eloquent voices of our day is in your hands. With Recover to Live, Chris Lawford has provided anyone struggling with his or her own nightmare of addiction an immediate guidepost, a clear and simple starting point from which to gain real and lasting help.”
PATRICK J. KENNEDY, U.S. Rep. (D-R.I.), 1995–2011; and JIM RAMSTAD, U.S. Rep. (R-Minn.), 1991–2009
“Leave it to Christopher Kennedy Lawford to turn over the addiction rock to find a diamond: recovery. Recovery is a whole lot more than abstinence from addictive behavior; it is a new and less self-centered life that rises from the suffering of addiction. Recovery is the reward of working the 12-Step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and their endless addiction clones. These unique programs are the secret weapons in the war on addiction, and the stars of this story. Here you will find a road map to recovery in the cacophonous voices of 100 diverse experts filtered through the one real expert in this book, Chris Kennedy Lawford.”
ROBERT L. DUPONT, MD, First Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse; President, Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc.; Second White House Drug Chief; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown Medical School; Author, The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction
“Addiction is one of America’s dirtiest little secrets, an epidemic running amok not only among adults but also among our children. Recover to Live provides a helping hand to anyone whose life or loved one has been hurt by it.”
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON, New York Times Bestselling Author, The Age of Miracles; Founder, The Peace Alliance
“Mr. Lawford’s new book Recover to Live has a clear and powerful message: Anyone can step out of the shadows of addiction and have a better life.”
JACK CANFIELD, Bestselling Author, Success Principles; Co-Creator, Chicken Soup for the Soul Book Series
“Christopher Lawford lived through addiction and recovery and now shares his journey so that we can all Recover to Live. It is simply the best book on addiction I have ever read. It is a gift to anybody who wants the authentic reality of addiction.”
PAT O’BRIEN, Host, Fox Sports Radio; Former Host, The Insider
“Chris has done it again! His work has made it possible for those of us with an addiction of any kind to see the possibility of having an outstanding life. His work is worthy of a Nobel Prize.”
LOUIS GOSSETT, JR., Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning Actor
“Better self-help books offer personal perspective from an author who has personally overcome an illness or a personal problem, as well as a mastery method used by the author. Chris Lawford’s Recover to Live has elevated the standard of self-help books in two important ways. First, the moving and very real personal stories in this book are not just his but those of many who have experienced or shared the experience of being addicted. More importantly—there is no hype about a magical new way to overcome addiction. Lawford offers eminently sensible and practical advice—and seven different, well-tested coping methods to choose from. The compelling writing style, the veracity of personal experience, and the practical coping choices make this an excellent book for those who are struggling with substance abuse and for those who struggle with them.”
A. THOMAS MCLELLAN, PHD, CEO, Treatment Research Institute—Philadelphia PA; Former Deputy Director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
“Recover to Live provides the most up to date information available on addiction, treatment, and recovery today; the tools and strategies are proven to work and easy to understand and to apply. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to deal with an unhealthy habit.”
EVGENY M. KRUPITSKY, MD, PHD, D.MED.SCI.; Chief, Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions, St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University; Chief, Department of Addictions, Bekhterev Research Psychoneurological Institute
“Christopher Kennedy Lawford has made another important contribution to the addiction self-help toolkit. With Recover to Live, he has moved from memoir to ministration. Recovering people can now shop from his extensive collection of tips—obtained from the leading experts—that will guide them toward recovery. In addition to background information, the extensive variety of tips assures that Recover to Live has something for everyone. Perhaps most importantly, by juxtaposing drug use, gambling, and other excessive behaviors, this book reflects the most current science showing that addiction is a singular disorder with many and varied expressions. Recover to Live is a must read for anyone interested in changing behavior.”
HOWARD J. SHAFFER, PHD, CAS, Associate Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School; Director, Division on Addiction, The Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School
Teaching Affiliate
“ALL you need to know to overcome the grip of any addiction and find recovery …”
WILLIAM C. MOYERS, Author, Broken
“Mr. Lawford is one of our most articulate, passionate, and outspoken recovering addicts. As a woman sober for 34 years, I agree with him that recovery is a life-long process and that the tools I learned about how to live a sober life were not easily available in the larger community when I first got sober. The sheer volume of information and extraordinary light that is shed by Lawford’s book makes it vital reading for everyone—in and out of recovery, in pain or remembering how that pain felt. The book forces open the doors not only for those suffering from the illness but also their family members—to take their stories to the street, to let the world at large know we are all in this boat on a perilous journey if we do not wake from our dreams of denial and secrecy. Lawford presents his deep examination of these problems with a brilliance that goes to the heart of the national health crisis which bleeds in the wings of our lack of understanding of these illnesses. Bravo! I am Judy Collins, and I am a recovering alcoholic.”
JUDY COLLINS, Grammy Award Winning Singer
“Our country is on the verge of an awakening. Activists like Christopher Lawford are pushing the message to the forefront of our collective consciousness in regards to the disease of chemical dependence and life after recovery. A must read to understand this country’s epidemic disease.”
ROBERT L. SHAPIRO, Attorney and Chairman, The Brent Shapiro Foundation For Alcohol and Drug Awareness
“Recover to Live exceeds expectations. It is striking in its accessibility and lets us access our own vulnerability and choose a solution that fits our worldview. Lawford has fixed his gaze on this sorry state and made solutions accessible. If you relish shared intellectual exploration, read this book and traverse the chasm between knowledge and experience. Lawford’s life and journey have allowed him reception by almost everyone of import to alcoholism and addiction research and treatment and he shares them with the reader. Amazingly, he avoids the turgid prose of the academics he interviews and writes his scholarly work not for scholars but for those who think they have a problem. Lawford has the eye of the historian, the voice of a scientist, the hand of a novelist, and the heart of a healer. Lawford’s importance lies not in the accuracy of his analyses but in his ability to influence thought, which is where he does us a service.”
ANDREA G. BARTHWELL, MD, FASAM, Two Dreams Outer Banks and Former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H. W. Bush
“Recover to Live is without a doubt the most thorough, captivating, and essential book about recovery I’ve ever read. We addicts are always looking for loopholes, and Mr. Lawford has cleverly covered every aspect of recovery possible. He does this with great respect to the addict, as so many books do not. I sincerely hope Recover to Live will be found at every drug rehab, clinic, and AA meeting in the country—it will help save countless lives.”
KRISTEN JOHNSTON, Actress; Author, Guts
“There are millions of Americans suffering from the disease of addiction and many millions more around the world. H.L. Mencken noted in 1920, ‘There is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.’ There is no simple solution to addiction. Many have been helped by 12-Step groups; many have not. Many have been helped by medications or psychological approaches; many have not. Addicts and those that suffer and struggle with them will find in Chris Lawford’s book how he and many others found solutions that worked for them and ways that they might get help. It combines the wisdom of these individuals as well as professionals who have dedicated their lives to aid them with the hope that those who suffer may find in these pages something that works for them.”
HERBERT D. KLEBER, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Director, Division on Substance Abuse, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
“Recovery is everywhere. Chances are someone in your family, your neighbor, or a co-worker is in recovery. In Recover to Live, you’ll find out how and why they decided to get help, the many options there are to get well, and the choices you can make to live a new life, joining the over 23 million Americans in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.”
PATRICIA TAYLOR, Executive Director, Faces & Voices of Recovery
“Integrating his own personal experience with scientific research, Christopher Kennedy Lawford delivers a powerful and life-changing message for people who are seeking recovery and for those already in recovery. The message that sustained long-term recovery from any addictive behavior requires a total transformation in every area of one’s life is a message worth sharing. Recover to Live offers a holistic approach to recovery that works in conjunction with a 12-Step program and encourages the embracing of, not only healthy behaviors, but life itself. An approach to recovery of this kind is long overdue and I highly recommend this book to people in recovery, their families, and professionals in the field.”
KITTY S. HARRIS, PHD, LMFT, LCDC, Director, Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, Texas Tech University; Author, Women & Recovery: Finding Hope
“Unlike self-help books that promote limited methods and techniques to deal with highly specific conditions, Recover to Live challenges us to be radically open-minded about the ubiquity of addictions and compulsions in our lives…. Solutions are found in collaboration, and Lawford has elicited remarkable cooperation from a broad range of addiction treatment professionals. He has also synthesized the combination of experience in recovery with the best of professional knowledge….”
JEFFREY D. ROTH, MD, FASAM, AGPA; Addiction Psychiatrist; Author; Medical Director, Working Sobriety Chicago; Editor, Journal of Groups in Addiction Recovery
“Clear and comprehensive overview of addictions and how to get free and healthy from them. Highly recommended!”
CHARLES WHITFIELD, MD, FASAM, Author, Not Crazy: You May Not Be Mentally Ill and Wisdom to Know the Difference: Core Issues in Relationships, Recovery and Living
“Chris Lawford is the real deal. . . . Too bad they didn’t have books like Recover to Live around when I started my knucklehead years. I might’ve figured it out earlier and saved myself and those who loved me a bunch of pain.”
TOM ARNOLD, Actor/Comic/Writer