Addiction has been said to be the most democratic and equally opportunistic disease in all of medical history.  Addiction can affect an individual at any stage of life regardless of sex, race, education, or socioeconomic status.  The beast of addiction can manifest itself in any form of normal human emotions, responses, and behavior.  Addiction adversely affects and destroys the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of every person it infects.  Addiction is a potentially chronic relapsing disease, just like most chronic diseases recorded in medical history.

Recovery from addiction requires personal acceptance of this disease without any focus on the reasons why a person is addicted.  Recovery is a process that takes time for the addict to develop successful coping skills, insight, and the strength necessary to battle the disease of addiction.  The rewards of recovery are a new- found freedom from the bondage of addiction, and the addict’s ability to accept life on life’s terms without the need for alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, or any other compulsive behavior.

 

In Addiction: Yours, Mine, and Ours, the author has so succinctly presented the characters, addictions, and message that the reader will empathize with the addicts’ struggles yet yearn to understand addiction in these neighboresque people.  You will want to know every insight developed through the book.  You will consciously sense your evolving understanding of addiction and its awesome power.  The unaffected public will have a welcome awakening to our collective responsibility to eradicate these destructive addictions.  A special vigilance will emerge for family and friends.

 

Although much has been written previously on addiction, Dr. Logue’s novel, Addiction: Yours, Mine, and Ours, is a new important paradigm of understanding addiction through the medium of entertainment.  His novel gives us realistic characters in a true-to-life storyline which intensely appeals to both our individual and collective motivation to become part of the solutions.

          I am particularly pleased to have offered personal reflections and content suggestions for Chapters 30 and 31.  Anytime we can fight ongoing addiction problems, we should not hesitate.