Lawrence Peltz - The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery

A very gentle, compassionate, sensible, believable, readable, encouraging, and incredibly helpful book about overcoming a very powerful affliction. It is, in its broad thoroughness, a wise support for facing any major challenge.

Sylvia Boorstein, author of Happiness Is an Inside Job

This is a book that deserves its place among the very best of addiction recovery guidesboth for practitioners who want to expand their treatment options and for those seeking change.

Howard J. Shaffer, PhD, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School; Director, Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health Alliance

Powerful, pragmatic, and direct, this book is a compassionate pathway to freedom through mastery.

SAKI SANTORELLI, EDD, MA, Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, MBSR Stress Reduction Clinic, Executive Director, Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, University of Massachusetts Medical School

In this generous, clearly written book, Larry Peltz makes a compelling case for mindfulness practice as an antidote to addiction. It is an authoritative, nondogmatic guide through all phases of recovery, challenges to recovery, and available treatment options. Chock-full of illuminating stories and essential mindfulness exercises, this book is a doorway to freedom for people struggling with addiction and those who love them.

CHRISTOPHER GERMER, PHD, Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion

Larry Peltz gives a unique and enlightening view of addiction and provides a very clear way to change ones destructive habits. I highly recommend it.

SHARON SALZBERG, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

A mindful and compassionate attention is the very ground of recovery from addiction. In this book, Lawrence Peltz offers a penetrating understanding of the nature of addiction, and the meditation practices that can help us find freedom from this suffering. Drawing on his rich clinical experience, Dr. Peltz shares the struggles of people who have found great healing on this path of recovery and transformation.

TARA BRACH, PHD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

Addictions are rooted in distress and suffering. Dr. Peltz shows us how practicing thoughtfulness, awareness, and acceptance can bring solace, relief, and happiness without resorting to addictive solutions.

EDWARD J. KHANTZIAN, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Associate Chief Emeritus of Psychiatry, Tewksbury Hospital

A thoughtfully and beautifully written journey that guides the reader through the recovery process, integrating theory and practice of mindfulness and traditional addictions treatment. Dr. Peltz is exquisitely sensitive to the human experience; he addresses real-life situations with interventions that are informed and practical. He offers acceptance of the chaotic existence of those suffering with active addiction and hope that effective interventions can support the patient regardless of their motivation to change.

JANICE F. KAUFFMAN, RN, MPH, LADC, CAS, Vice President, Addiction Services, North Charles Foundation, Inc., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Peltz writes with empathy and expertise about addiction, combining psychological savvy with mindfulness. The wisdom and humanity here can benefit us all.

ELANA ROSENBAUM, MS, MSW, LICSW, faculty and senior teacher, The Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, psychotherapist and mindfulness coach at Mindfuliving, and author of Being Well

This is really helpful and important work.

JACK KORNFIELD, PHD, author of A Path with Heart

ABOUT THE BOOK

Mindfulness, the quality of attention that combines full awareness with acceptance of each moment, just as it is, is gaining broad acceptance among mental health professionals as an adjunct to treatment. Because at the heart of addiction is the fear of painful emotional states, addicts compulsively seek drugs and alcohol to avoid or escape emotional pain. Mindfulness, on the other hand, helps us develop greater acceptance and ease with lifes challenges, as well as greater self-compassion.

Here, Dr. Lawrence Peltz, who has worked as an addiction psychiatrist for more than two decades, draws from his clinical experience and on the techniques of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to explain the fundamental dynamics of addiction and the stages of the recovery process, and also gives us specific mindfulness exercises to support recovery.

LAWRENCE PELTZ, MD, has worked as an addiction psychiatrist for more than two decades. He is the medical director of the Bournewood Caulfield Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Woburn, Mass. He is also a trained teacher of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and he speaks regularly to mental health professionals about mindfulness and recovery.

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The Mindful Path to
Addiction Recovery

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO REGAINING
CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE

LAWRENCE A. PELTZ, MD

Trumpeter Boston & London 2013

Trumpeter Books

An imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2013 by Lawrence A. Peltz

Cover design by Jim Zaccaria

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following material: Kindness from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye, copyright 1995. Reprinted with permission of Far Corner Books, Portland, Oregon. Weathering by Fleur Adcock, from Poems 19602000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2000). Wild Geese by Mary Oliver, from New and Selected Poems (Beacon Press, 1992). Youve Really Got a Hold on Me, words and music by William Smokey Robinson. 1962, 1963 (renewed 1990, 1991) Jobete Music Co., Inc. All rights controlled and administered by EMI April Music Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peltz, Lawrence A.

The mindful path to addiction recovery: a practical guide to regaining control over your life / Lawrence A. Peltz, MD.First edition.

Pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2852-0

ISBN 978-1-59030-918-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. AddictsRehabilitation. 2. Substance abuseTreatment. 3. Self-care, Health. I. Title.