My review of “Adding Fire to the Fuel” by Scott Stevens

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alcoholism, author, recovery, review, Scott Stevens, shame, stigma

“Adding Fire to the Fuel: Challenging Shame and the Stigma of Alcoholism” by Scott Stevens turns the spotlight on some very important, yet lesser known or discussed aspects of alcoholism: Shame and Stigma.
We all know some about recovery and the 12 Steps programme but we probably do not emphasize enough or know about the many ways that society and its attitudes prevent people from seeking recovery.
Be that the advertising industry that tempts people into drinking and glorifies it, or the shame of drinking or not-drinking. Blaming and prejudices.
In this brilliantly written book so much is said that rings true. I am an ex-smoker and I feel that Stevens does to alcoholism what Alan Carr did to smokers: Intellectualising the problem, educating people and using statistical data to prove his points.
I personally know of two people whose lives have been changed by Stevens’ books, one of which even has been in direct contact with the author.
Read this book, for it will make you understand more about a very common problem that is often brushed under the carpet. Here is a man who lived and survived the problem. This intellectual dissection of the problem is disarming and unique. A remarkable book – highly recommended.

Scott Stevens has been a guest on my blog several times, once with an interview and also with a feature about his alcohology app. He has written two previous books on Alcoholism and his latest book “Adding Fire to the Fuel” has just been released in the kindle version.

Scott launched the e-Book, launched the redesign of his website (www.alcohologist.com) and taken on an executive role with a new luxury addiction rehab.

Adding Fire to the Fuel
ISBN: 978-1- 63192-906-9
The book on Amazon US and Amazon UK

PRESS RELEASE: 

HEALTH REPORTER TO LAUNCH THIRD ALCOHOLISM BOOK
@ SAN FRANCISCO’S REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL Burlington, Wis., May 8, 2015 –

The stigma of alcoholism is what keeps many alcoholics from seeking help for their disease. The controversial subject is captured in Adding Fire to the Fuel, the third recovery-oriented book by award-winning author Scott Stevens.

Stevens … is rolling out the new book at what he calls “the right time for the recovery movement, in conjunction with two of the nation’s most meaningful organizations dedicated to reducing stigma. Much of what is known about the disease of alcoholism connects it to flaws in genes which control metabolism of alcohol as well as the brain’s risk/reward biochemistry.“
It’s a disease.
Same kind of chronic, progressive, incurable-but-treatable, primary and fatal classification as cancer or diabetes.
When we handle people with those other diseases with empathy, and dish out distaste to alcoholics or recovering ones, we create a social and economic problem that’s passed its tipping point.”

The new book, available at all retailers following the California launch, looks at the stigma around alcoholism and alcoholism recovery as a $226 billion annual problem hiding in plain sight.
“The story of alcohol and America’s affair with it keeps it from being recognized as the problem. Instead, people with the disease of alcoholism are considered the problem. ‘Alcoholic’ is a pejorative today. That’s ripe for change,” says the author.
The third-leading cause of preventable death and illness stays under the radar because of good advertising and bad stigma, according to Stevens.
“Its purveyors are proclaimed as charitable kings. Those who use it and discover alcohol has health and social consequences, are labeled as villains, killjoys, weak, weird, or morally off. What that stigma does to keep people from getting help also keeps the discussion of what alcohol does to you behind the wishful-thinking-driven chatter about what it does for you. The tipping point has passed. The status quo: No longer sustainable or acceptable.”
_______________________ http://www.alcohologist.com __________________________

Adding Fire to the Fuel examines: How families and communities feed public and self-stigma even while the stigma holds them back; How stigma has become a barrier to many who want help; How to hang on to sobriety in a pro-alcohol world; And how PANonymous alcoholics will reduce stigma more than all the protests combined.

Adding Fire to the Fuel (ISBN: 978-1- 63192-906-9).
Stevens says :
“It’s an honor to be involved with two of the groups so influential in tearing down stigma and portraying alcohol accurately. We all endorse the fact that sobriety is a better thing to have than to lack.” He adds, “There’s an impressive recovery atmosphere in northern California that is as robust as you find in Arizona, Florida, Texas and other locales. It’s a great place for a recovering alcoholic like me to debut a book like this one.”
The independent author launched Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud at Milwaukee’s largest independent bookseller, Boswell Books, in 2013. ###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stevens is a noted journalist on alcoholism and a founding influencer of the world’s largest medical portal, HealthTap.com. His books on the disease include 2010’s What the Early Worm Gets and 2012’s Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, which earned finalist honors in the Indie Book Awards and USA Best Books Awards in 2013. For more information on the new book, please visit http://www.alcohologist.com and for information on the film festival, please visit http://www.filmfestsfbay.org.

Another well written and informative book on Scott Stevens’ experiences …

Another well written and informative book on Scott Stevens’ experiences with alcoholism and recovery. The stigma of alcoholism is covered extensively in this book and insight is provided into understanding the stigma that many recovering alcoholics face in their new world without alcohol. Scott Stevens is an expert on the subject of alcoholism and recovery. He brings his perspective and draws people in with his clever and engaging writing style. I am looking forward to his next writing endeavor.

Outstanding

Well-written from the first page to the last, this book was both educational and insightful. The author did a fantastic job of opening the mind of his readers and challenging assumptions of alcoholism. I particularly enjoyed the chapters about the aging risks and the risks to teens. Overall, I highly recommend this one to anyone dealing with alcoholism.

So useful, everyone should read this

This is a powerful and invaluable book about an issue related to alcoholism. It has ‘in-valuable lessons for everyone, including non-alcoholics.
Using literary and philosophical quotes as headings the chapters all hit home with a few very well-put truths about alcoholism, society and human behaviour.
Blame has never helped anyone. The stigma attached to alcoholism, the stereotypes, prejudices and misinformation contribute largely to the problem because they stop people from seeking help.
Stevens is an award-winning journalist with great analytical capabilities, a sharp dissecting mind and first-hand knowledge of the subject – and all of this shines through every chapter.
Stevens has done a lot of research and adds well-presented statistics and data to bust a few myths and support his many so truthful statements and thought-provoking questions.
“Has every Kenyan won a marathon? Is every alcoholic a train wreck?”
The book is full of knowledge, clarifications and pointers and the world would be a more compassionate and better place if everyone read and took a leaf out of this book.
To quote one of the great chapter headings / quote from Johannes Kepler: “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”
As society we have a lot to learn. How we treat our weakest and vulnerable and how we help them – active and passive- says a lot about us. Information and the right attitude are still not widely spread. The book is a useful tool to help us with this. A must read for anyone.

Advertisement

Alcohology App bridges gap between alcohol science and myth #asmsg

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alcoholism, alcohology, App, application, Scott Stevens

Alcohology app bridges gap between alcohol science and myth

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev400583.app368763 

According to the creator of the new 2015 app, Alcohology, there’s a wide gulf between what people think alcohol does for them and what alcohol does to them. Case in point: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism notes that less than10 percent of the public realizes alcohol is a carcinogen. It’s free in the Google Play Store and in Kindle Apps. An IOS version is planned. The app is targeted toward health and counseling professionals, drinkers – whether they have the disease of alcoholism or just consider themselves moderate drinkers – and anyone concerned with a loved one’s drinking. 

Scott Stevens, author of the recovery book, Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, created the application, “because sometimes the swaying factor among many is knowing what alcohol does to otherwise healthy tissues.”

The app features short, topical videos on the evidence-based studies on alcohol and dismisses the ‘junk science’ touting alcohol’s health benefits. “Take the emotion out of a loaded public-health issue and rampant family drama and take the facts first,” says Stevens. “Not observational-studies, but some of the quality, recent research, will break a few myths and knock down some resistance to choosing abstinence over moderate or heavy drinking.”
The journalist and author frequently reports on alcohol and health and notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year identified alcohol as the third-leading cause of preventable death and illness in the U.S. “Alcohol-related car wrecks take about 1 out of every eight of the 89,000 annual deaths linked to alcohol use. The alcohol issue is more than a drinking and driving. It’s a $226 
billion annual health, wellness and productivity concern.”
Alcoholism is a consistent family problem and the disease is in the spotlight with the new Android app. Stevens knows all too well about the trials of recovery. His award-winning non-fiction book is a unique, bold take on sobriety, relapse and recovery. And he’s in recovery himself, after a two-liters-aday drinking problem. “I’ve had to eat my own cooking, sure, but this app is also geared toward moderate or occasional binge drinkers. You don’t need to have a drinking problem to be a problem
drinker. This is a toxin the body doesn’t favor much. The app is clear about that.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stevens is a noted journalist on alcoholism. His two books on alcoholism include
What the Early Worm Gets. For more information on the new book, please visit
http://www.alcohologist.com

Every Silver Lining has a Cloud on Amazon US and Amazon UK
What The Early Bird Gets on Amazon US and Amazon UK
Link to my previous feature on Scott

Have you ever wondered what you would like to do with a person who drinks and drives? Different people will give some very different answers to that question, but what would be the most (cost- and help-) effective way? In “What the Early Worm Gets” Scott Stevens writes about his personal experience with one judicial and correctional system in place in the US today that deals with those offenders. Unfaltering standing up for his mistakes and honest to the bone about his life as an alcoholic he writes as an intellectual, not as an angry victim – although as the reader I often got angry at the way an ill person is misdiagnosed, mistreated, angry at the waste of tax resources and the short sightedness of some of the existing programmes.
Stevens points out many lesser known facts and statistical data about alcoholism, clears up some common misconceptions and misleading terminology and gives constructive ideas for changes and amendments to current policies. Fully knowing his science Stevens presents his material with the skill of a sharply minded professional journalist. By bringing his own life and his dramatic experiences into the writing with understandable emotion but also objectivity and honest assessment of his path I find it difficult to imagine that someone could not agree with his findings and conclusions.
This is a well written, informative and perspective changing essay that should be made compulsory reading to those in charge of alcoholics and alcohol abusers everywhere.

“Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud : Relapse and the Symptoms of Sobriety” by Scott Stevens is a remarkable book about alcoholism that has busted a few myths for me, taught me a few truths and filled in other gaps in what I thought was comprehensive knowledge on the subject of addiction and alcoholism.
With journalistic precision and competence Stevens informs his readers in excellent fashion about the correlation between alcoholism and cortisol, a chemical in the body related to stress and stressors. Stevens also brings in psychological aspects and data, statistics and the impact of spirituality and communication on recovery.
I found Stevens’ approach refreshing because unlike other self-help books there is no agenda or one simplifying message about the subject. This is an informed and personalised account of facts that can clarify patterns, help understanding them and shed new light on the subject without trying to force them into a one-trick-pony of a book.
The book includes many great quotes on the matter and should be helpful for alcoholics and those around them just for the inspirational impact of those alone but I also personally related particularly well to the rational journalistic approach interspersed with the personal.
I commend Stevens for his honesty when it comes to his own private experiences and for his talent to chose wisely where to bring the personal into the book in the first place. Here is not a sinner asking for forgiveness, or someone revealing to shock or to accuse. The ‘sobriety’ of his account is most rewarding and probably helps to increase the impact of what is being shared.
I have already passed the book details on to my friends in recovery.