Recovery Writing: Discovery and Healing in the Twelve Steps [Paperback]

A moving and informative book from an addict in recovery, sharing stories from his experience and research on the healing effects of writing in Twelve-Step fellowships that includes step-by-step exercises.
 
James Ryan is an addict in recovery. He is now over twenty years sane and sober, married and a father of two, and a PhD graduate who researches the power of writing to heal. In this book, James tells his own story and the stories of the addicts he interviewed in the course of his research. These narratives, informed by existing research on writing’s physical and psychological effects, lead to asocialunderstanding of healing.
 
While writing does enable us to emote and confess, this is not the limit of its power. Writing heals our relationships as much as our bodies and minds. It attunes us to our social reality and improves our way of being with others. The notion of a higher power and the divine are also explored.
 
Included in this book are step-by-step instructions for writing exercises that offer a first-hand experience of social healing. These exercises, drawn from the backs of coffee-stained diner placemats and the hard-earned experience of addicts struggling to remake their lives, introduce those willing to undertake this journey to the powerful, life-changing world of recovery writing.

 “Deftly weaving together his own recovery journey, the stories of other addicts, and ways of ‘writing through recovery,’ James Ryan, inRecovery Writing: Discovery and Healing in the Twelve Stepsprovides a useful and breathtakingly poignant set of observations on how the act of writing is integral to healthy recovery. Part memoir, part how-to book, Ryan’s book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the power of writing in overcoming the cunning, baffling, and powerful pull of addiction.”
—Michael Bernard-Donals, Professor of EnglS—