Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions (Plus)

Addiction and Grace offers an inspiring and hope-filled vision for those who desire to explore the mystery of who and what they really are. May examines the "processes of attachment" that lead to addiction and describes the relationship between addiction and spiritual awareness. He also details the various addictions from which we can suffer, not only to substances like alcohol and drugs, but to work, sex, performance, responsibility, and intimacy. Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist working with the chemically dependent, May emphasizes that addiction represents an attempt to assert complete control over our lives. Addiction and Grace is a compassionate and wise treatment of a topic of major concern in these most addictive of times, one that can provide a critical yet hopeful guide to a place of freedom based on contemplative spirituality.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member GwG

Though I was stretched by some Dr. May's theology, I learned a great deal about addiction from him. Truly knowledgeable in both areas of addiction and spirituality, May's writing has been a resource for many working with those in addiction or struggling with their own (however, I must say that May

makes a strong case that we all struggle with addiction).

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LibraryThing member revslick

May does a superb job of describing our addictive nature and issues the hard challenge of living in the spacious moments once we've stopped.

LibraryThing member sashame

1 star for the syncreticism and decent literary quotations

the author mistakes addiction for habit, and in doing so generalizes the notion of addiction to the point where it has no clinical or therapeutic significance, also trivializing the struggles of those who DO face unique struggles with the

disease of addiction

occasionally he throws out some allegedly scientific or evidence-based assertion (without citation or reference) which I recognized (and verified) to b quite false. his chapter on neurology is laughably bad, anthropomorphizing the individual neurons and missing the neurological forest for the trees

on top of all of this, he's a bit pretentious, which would b find if his overconfidence didn't result in outlandish claims and assertions alongside more reasonable ones

if u wanna read some cool philosophical and spiritual quotes and concepts abt desire and grace and etc, w some kinda inaccurate pop-science thrown in, then ya u might enjoy this. but if u want any insight into how addiction operates as a unique neurological disease and behavioral process, if u want any insight into the etiology or treatment for addiction, its varieties and variations, u will b quite disappointed

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