Anne M. Fletcher

The author certainly thinks certain addictions, especially ones common to codependent people, are fake. She recommends a book that says these addictions and possibly codependency itself is fake. She quotes doctors who dismiss real concerns and related issues. Codependency as a thing some people have/are, is brushed off early in this book. I growled, and kept reading. This book contains a lot of statistics, references to studies, discussions with doctors and scientists...in a lot of ways, show more this book is where it's at. The author cites her sources and provides exhaustive checklists and solid advice for people trying to find rehabs and get help for drug and alcohol addiction. There's a chapter on rehab for teens, too. The chapters are routinely thirty to fifty pages long, and sometimes the author repeats herself for a few paragraphs. It's all incredibly informative, though, when she's not dismissing entire addictions. She calls out twelve-step groups a lot, in needed but increasingly repetitive ways. She shows sympathy, I guess, to those of us who are mentally ill, and really does a great job in the chapter dedicated to mentally ill people in recovery. I appreciated that. Twelve-step groups frequently absolutely hate mentally ill people, and in NA, you can't even say the word "therapy," you have to call it "outside help" and pretend it's terrible. If you do talk about it, you'll get cut off pretty quickly from your sharing time. I'm trying to find a non-twelve step group alternative, and this book recommends a few I'm interested in researching. I'm also re-checking out books that look at addiction recovery in a non-twelve step manner, ones I checked out when I very first started seeing flaws in twelve-step.

While this book has major flaws in it, I'm still glad I read it and I think it'll be a great resource for those who need or are interested in it. show less

The most thorough and scholarly analysis of the " treatment" industry I have read. Valuable for parents who may have adolescents who struggle with alcohol or drug abuse issues. Walks you through the questions to ask before committing a young person to treatment. Warns of the possible pitfalls, unethical conduct, and the counterproductive " one size fits all", 12-step form of treatment and recovery many rehabs use.

I wanted to reread the section on mindful eating as part of a habitforming exercise. That section was useful but the rest is pretty hopelessly dated, permeated as it is with the assumption that lowfat is healthy and slimming.

Inside Rehab describes current practices in the US addiction treatment industry, based on in-depth visits to a diverse sample of 15 facilities (including Practical Recovery, the San Diego addiction treatment system I founded and operate), and interviews with approximately 100 experts and facility staffers. She also interviewed dozens of treatment clients, who report their treatment experiences good and bad. What Ms. Fletcher documents should frighten anyone seeking US addiction treatment show more (including "rehab," the common term for residential treatment).

I was given this book by GoodReads. show less