Addiction Dilemmas - Family Experiences from Literature and Research and their Lessons for Practice

Addiction Dilemmas explores the impact of addiction on those closest to the individuals affected and their families. Drawing on a wide range of sources, the book discusses the stresses and strains that family members are subjected to, the dilemmas that they face, and the coping strategies that they have found useful.

• Draws on a unique breadth of material to illustrate the dilemmas faced by family members in coping with a close relative's addiction
• Raises questions and points to controversies rather than dispensing prescriptive 'one size fits all' advice
• Brings together accounts from research interviews, biography, autobiography and relevant fiction in a creative and original way
• Tackles common misunderstandings at public, practitioner, scholarly and policy levels about the predicaments that family members commonly find themselves in
• Each chapter closes with a commentary, questions and exercises designed to further develop understanding for professionals and students

Jim Orford is Emeritus Professor of Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Birmingham. His books on addiction include Excessive Appetites: A Psychological View of Addictions (2e 2001) and An Unsafe Bet?: The Dangerous Rise of Gambling and the Debate We Should Be Having (2010).