Christopher Kennedy Lawford (1955–2018)

“Experience, strength and hope” is a mantra frequently heard in the rooms of recovery, and Chris Lawford’s Symptoms of Withdrawal, certainly offers a great deal of all three. Each time an addict or alcoholic goes to the front of the room to tell their story, they are asked to cover three important areas – What we were like, what happened, and what we were like now. Much like the pirate’s code, they more guidelines really, rather than what you would call rules. Each addict telling show more their story must decide for themselves where the line is drawn that separates an honest portrayal of their experience of addiction from euphoric recall. The geography of Mr. Lawford’s line made me uncomfortable.
Though uncomfortable, I was renewed by the story of Mr. Lawford’s struggle. I was especially pleased that he acknowledged his own character flaws that continued to plague his life in sobriety, as they do for all who are addicted, myself included. Self-honesty, humility, and the willingness to learn, are traits that all must possess in one form or another to live sober one day at a time, and I believe that his naked reality of life in recovery is a real blessing found in this book.
I got the book a few months ago when Mr. Lawford spoke to a group in Knoxville dedicated to working with the mentally ill and addicted. I was impressed by his passion for helping other get recovery. He was talking about a very small gain that had occurred in the United Nation’s recognition of addiction as a disease. This is a conclusion reached by the AMA in the 1950’s. Despite the fact that it took over 50 years to gain this one step, Mr. Lawford talked of the minute progress as though it matched the achievement of landing on the moon.
It was an blessing to read his story and how he has learned to intuitively hand situations which used to baffle him. I think if you read Symptoms of Withdrawal, you too will be less baffled and walk away from the experience with strength and hope. show less

A lot was lost because of the excessive name dropping, but a great example for those who think that substance abuse is not hereditary in the least.

Moments of clarity is a compilation of recovery stories representing a broad range of folks. However, on the whole I found it a bit disappointing. Many of the stories caused me to question the sobriety of their creators, and others brought the standard southern declaration of failure “bless their heart”. That being said, there were a few that were quite inspiring. For these stories the moments of clarity were profound and universal. I especially liked Jamie Curtis, Earl Hightower, Thomas show more “Hollywood” Henderson, and Marie Morning-Glory. Ultimately the suggestion of always looking for similarities rather than differences makes this a worthwhile read. show less

I thought the first 200 pages or so were well-written and engaging. Unfortunately, the author decided to skate over his marriage and divorce issues in a way that made him seem arrogant and unfeeling and I lost my respect for him.