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Hidden Addictions

A Pastoral Response to the Abuse of Legal Drugs

• By Richard L. Dayringer, Bridget C. Mc Keever

• Price: $14.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 118
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 17th February 1998
• ISBN: 978-0-7890-0267-9

About the Book

In Hidden Addictions: A Pastoral Response to the Abuse of Legal Drugs, you’ll find that beneath the gruesome, more public face of illegal drug abuse lies another less hideous, but just as destructive, layer of addiction--the addiction to prescribed drugs. In this revealing study, you’ll learn how you can confront the hidden malady of legal drug dependency in individuals and ultimately break its chokehold on a world already ravaged by complacency and social-systemic dysfunction.

The only book of its kind, Hidden Addictions is a concise, readable pastoral perspective on the creeping epidemic of legal drug abuse. Its illuminating case vignettes show you the social roots of addiction and give you the spiritual and religious resources necessary to put you and your loved ones on the road to holistic recovery. Specifically, you’ll read about:

• groups most at risk--girls, young women, and older women
• types of drugs, including tranquilizers, sedatives, antidepressants, and painkillers
• over-the-counter drugs and look-alike drugs
• women and the pharmaceutical industry
• recovery methods, including detoxification, family therapy, and couple counseling
• spiritual resources and systemic reform
  
  In a society already addicted to power, pleasure, and possession, you don’t always see the “warning buttons” being pushed. But this book shows that you can turn back the quiet tide of spiritual sickness and psychochemical dependency that’s sweeping the globe. So whether you’re a pastor whose congregation is suffering, a social worker administering to addicted clientele, or a campus minister, Hidden Addictions will give you the pragmatism and awareness you need to heal the wounded soul.

Table of Contents

Contents Foreword

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. The Problem
• Prevalence of Legal Drug Abuse
• Persons Most at Risk
• 2. Pills, People, and Process
• Legal Drugs of Abuse
• Dynamics of Addiction and Dependence
• 3. Sociological Roots of Addiction
• The Addictive Society
• Women and the Medical Profession
• Women and the Pharmaceutical Industry
• Growing Up and Growing Old
• Health Care in the Addictive Society
• Family in the Addictive Society
• 4. Spiritual Roots of Addiction
• Existential Anxiety
• Religion and Spirituality
• Religion and Recovery from Addiction
• Women and Religion
• Religious Systems as Part of the Addictive Society
• 5. Pastoral Response
• Caring for the Individual
• A Recovery Program
• 6. Prevention
• Systemic Reform
• Religious Resources
• Helping Individuals
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index