White Knuckles and Wishful Thinking

This book builds on one relentless empirical fact about addictive relapse: At the moment of picking up the first drink/drug we all say one of two things. Either "One won't hurt" (or a handful of "wishful" variations) or "F--- it" (or a smaller, less frequent list of "white knuckle" variations).

What does this mean? Why is it that so many different people — different addictions, different stages of the illness, different educational and cultural backgrounds — all say the same thing at this critical moment? After all, this is the very moment that treatment and recovery strive to prevent.

This book first shows how to understand the "wishful" and the "white knuckle" relapse. It then goes on to look at denial acceptance, and coping. All of the chapters specify tools for talking to self or others about the experience of relapse and how to prevent it from happening again. And each chapter now features study guides for students of chemical dependency and treatment exercises for those struggling with their own relapse.