Addiction Dilemmas: Family Experiences from Literature and Research and Their Lessons for Practice

Addiction Dilemmas “Professor Orford is one of the most distinguished researchers of addictions today. In this book he aims to counter the neglect and misunderstanding faced by families affected by addiction – an estimated one hundred million worldwide – and to highlight the personal, professional and public policy dilemmas. By drawing on personal accounts from fiction, autobiography and Professor Orford and his colleagues’ own international research ­programme, the voices of children, wives, grandparents and friends spring to life. The penetrating and sensitive commentary, and thought-provoking questions and exercises make this book invaluable for practitioners, ­researchers and family members. It demonstrates the many shared ­experiences of family members across continents and over time, whether alcohol, drug misuse or gambling is involved.” Judith Harwin, Professor of Social Work, Brunel University, UK Addiction Dilemmas explores the impact of addiction on those closest to the individuals affected – their families. Many barriers can stand in the way of family members receiving help, not least a lack of available services and a failure on the part of professionals and their organisations to fully ­appreciate the nature of the dilemmas which they face. This book is based on a combination of personal interviews from scientific research, accounts from biography and autobiography (featuring well-known names both past and present) and excerpts from well-informed works of literature. The book’s core theme is the stress faced by family members when a close relative has an addiction problem, and the struggles they experience in deciding how to cope. By tracing the same dilemmas through a range of contexts, Jim Orford offers unique insights to professionals who deal with people with addictions and their families, researchers, policy makers and ultimately family members themselves. Sources include The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, A Chancer by James Kelman, Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill, and biographies of close relatives of Dylan Thomas and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Table of Contents:
Preface vii Sources and Acknowledgements xiii 1. We'll Be There for Him: A Family Responds to Relapse 1 2. Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill 9 3. Tough Love: A Television Studio Discussion 15 4. Wives of Gamblers 21 5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë 31 6. British SikhWives and Daughters Stand Up toMen's Drinking 38 7. Nil By Mouth: A Film by Gary Oldman 46 8. Worrying for Drinkers in Aboriginal Australia 52 9. A Prodigal Son: The Mother's Story 65 10. Parents of Problem Gamblers 75 11. The Tale of Caitlin Thomas 88 12. Dylan Thomas in America by John Malcolm Brinnin 103 13. An Imaginary Conversation:Wives in Mexico, England, South Korea and Italy 111 14. Father Figure by Beverley Nichols 124 15. Growing Up with My Mother by Virginia Ironside 131 16. Mrs Sara Coleridge and Friends 138 17. Five Husbands ofWives with Drinking Problems: A Focus Group 153 18. A Chancer by James Kelman 169 19. Growing Up with ParentsWho Drink Excessively: Four Stories 175 20. Baudelaire and His Mother in Chains 185 21. Fever Pitch by Richard Brooks 194 22. I Only Had the Baby'sWelfare at Heart: Concerned Grandmothers 199 Further Reading 207 Index 209

About the Author :
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 (2011).

Review :
“Although the book may lend itself best to a student leadership, its diversity and links to the addiction literature will make it of interest to a wide range of professionals, as well as all who have had any personal contact with addiction.”  (The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1 May 2012)