Ahead, see the 15 stories of struggle, failure, recovery, and grace that have moved us the most. The information on this website is not intended to be a substitute for, or to be relied upon as, medical advice, best recovery books diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or qualified health provider with questions regarding a medical condition. Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.

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With our team and your desire to heal, we can improve your quality of life and functional abilities, so you can get back to living your best life. Choosing recovery close to home means your support system is just a few miles away. A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.

Biographies, Memoirs, & Quit Lit

If you struggle with anything related to body image, you won’t regret this read. This book may also help you see sobriety as a gift you’re giving to your body. This is a self-help book by a licensed therapist that braids together anonymized client stories, personal narrative, psychological tools, and brain research.

Understanding Day Treatment for Addiction

Prior to getting sober, memoir author Sarah Hepola often drank until she blacked out. Blackout reveals how sobriety helped her discover the confidence, intimacy, and creativity within her—all of which she previously thought could only be found at the bottom of a bottle. Here, Nikki shares the diary entries—some poetic, some scatterbrained, some bizarre—of those dark times.

Eating in the Light of the Moon

These books provide insights into addiction, share personal experiences, and offer practical strategies for maintaining sobriety. These books on addiction and recovery provide valuable resources for individuals seeking insight, support, and inspiration throughout their journey. By exploring the experiences and perspectives shared within these pages, readers can find solace, guidance, and motivation to embark on their own path to recovery.

This Naked Mind by Annie Grace

This book can be empowering and instructive whether you or a  loved one struggles with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Readers might get a clearer indication of some of the thought processes typically shared by heavy drinkers. You might also gain a stronger insight into why their loved one behaves as they do. Dash also developed a drug addiction before he cleaned up and embarked on the road to recovery. This is a highly instructive read for anyone grappling with an addictive personality and a tendency to overindulge. Dash explains strategies and routines that helped him refocus and find recovery from his addictions.

• This book serves as a guide for anyone starting their journey with a 30 day sobriety challenge.
• By exploring the experiences and perspectives shared within these pages, readers can find solace, guidance, and motivation to embark on their own path to recovery.
• “Broken…” tells the story of William Cope Myers, who was once wrapped up in the arms of crack cocaine.
• Annie, Stoefen’s daughter, lived on the streets where she committed crimes to the community, to her family, and to herself.

Reading this book was the beginning of a new perspective for me. It got me thinking the one thing I never wanted to be true… maybe it is the alcohol that’s making me so miserable? Whether you’re new to recovery or have decades of sobriety, reading a book is a great way to manage relapse triggers and substance use cravings.

The more tools you have at your disposal, the more readily you can embrace the road to recovery. If reading a book isn’t your style, or you prefer something for your commute, check out this blog post on the five best addiction recovery podcasts. In his follow-up to his first memoir, Tweak, which dealt with his journey into meth addiction, Sheff details his struggle to stay clean. In and out of rehab, he falls into relapse, engaging in toxic relationships and other self-destructive behaviors that threaten to undo the hard-won progress he’s made. Based on Fisher’s hugely successful one-woman show, Wishful Drinking is the story of growing up in Hollywood royalty, battling addiction, and dealing with manic depression.

Having been in recovery for many years, and working here at Shatterproof, I often get asked to recommend books about addiction. So here’s a list of my all-time favorite reads about substance use disorders. I started reading addiction memoirs in college, well before I admitted to having an alcohol use disorder. Why else would I have been mesmerized by When a Man Loves a Woman or 28 Days in my early 20s?

Best Books Related to Healing and Mental Health

Written by a cognitive neuroscientist with former substance use struggles, Marc Lewis emphasizes the habitual reward loop in the brain that can cause a substance use disorder to develop. This book also examines the brain’s ability to create new neural pathways and lose the desire to use substances. Lewis provides a description of life in recovery that I relate to myself; that sober life is not a life of deprivation, but one of fulfillment, continued growth, and personal development. After finishing A Happier Hour, the bar was set high for future reads (no pun intended). Weller has a relatable story for any high-achiever who finds themselves with boozy, foggy evenings that turn into hangovers the next morning. Written with raw vulnerability, the pages of this book are filled with an honest look at her own relationship to alcohol.