The best 17 Overcoming Addiction books

Overcoming addiction is a challenging yet crucial journey for those affected by it. Gaining knowledge and understanding about addiction can empower individuals to take control of their lives and find a path to recovery. Our curated list of books is designed to support you in this endeavor.

These books offer various perspectives and approaches to help you combat addiction and achieve lasting change. From understanding the root causes to learning coping strategies, this list has got you covered. So, are you ready to take that first step towards a healthier, addiction-free life?
1
This Naked Mind

This Naked Mind

Annie Grace
Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life
4.2 (133 ratings)

What's This Naked Mind about?

This Naked Mind (2015) challenges our culture's love affair with alcohol. It offers matter-of-fact, actionable insights that help free drinkers from its perceived hold.

Who should read This Naked Mind?

  • Party animals who want a permanent break
  • Mindful drinkers seeking balance
  • Curious cats who question cultural norms

2
Drama Free

Drama Free

Nedra Glover Tawwab
A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships
4.2 (29 ratings)

What's Drama Free about?

Drama Free (2023) is a concise and thoughtful guide to navigating the negatives of one of the most fundamental and unavoidable aspects of our lives: family. Covering a wide range of topics including emotionally absent parents, codependent siblings, substance abuse, and many more, it offers advice on recognizing the patterns of a dysfunctional family, healing from the past, and growing into the full human being you deserve to be.

Who should read Drama Free?

  • Adult children or siblings looking to untangle their current family relationships
  • Emotionally troubled individuals who are prepared to analyze their childhood
  • Anyone who tenses up when a family member calls

3
Irresistible

Irresistible

Adam Alter
The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
4.3 (134 ratings)

What's Irresistible about?

Irresistible (2017) shows how dangerously dependent we’ve become on the smartphones, tablets, video games and social platforms that we’ve surrounded ourselves with. Is our attachment to these devices strictly related to the convenience they provide? Or have we actually grown addicted to the psychological rewards they offer?

Who should read Irresistible?

  • Psychology students
  • Technology addicts
  • Anyone looking to be more productive

4
Dopamine Nation

Dopamine Nation

Anna Lembke
Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
4.5 (441 ratings)

What's Dopamine Nation about?

Dopamine Nation (2021) explores the connection between pleasure and pain. Our modern world is filled with more dopamine-inducing stimuli than ever – including everything from drugs and sex to smartphones and shopping. Citing years of clinical experience and patients’ stories, this book helps to understand addiction and explains how to achieve a healthy balance in our lives. 

Who should read Dopamine Nation?

  • People struggling to break bad habits
  • Family members of loved ones struggling with addiction
  • Anyone who can’t seem to put down their phone

5
Digital Minimalism

Digital Minimalism

Cal Newport
Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
4.5 (685 ratings)

What's Digital Minimalism about?

Digital Minimalism (2018) is a practical guide to navigating today’s media landscape, where multiple billion-dollar companies are out to keep your eyes as glued to their platforms as possible. Fortunately, there is growing skepticism surrounding new technology and digital media. People are eager to regain their autonomy and, while they’re at it, live more satisfying and healthy lives. With these tools and methods, you too can regain the focus and productivity that comes from stepping back from new technology.

Who should read Digital Minimalism?

  • Anyone feeling overwhelmed with social media
  • People looking for tips to boost productivity
  • News junkies in need of a detox

6
Your Brain on Porn

Your Brain on Porn

Gary Wilson
Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction
4.2 (169 ratings)

What's Your Brain on Porn about?

Your Brain on Porn (2014) examines the explosion of internet pornography addiction. In the age of high-speed internet, porn is more widespread than ever. And although excessive porn consumption can negatively affect mental health and sexual function, the damage can be reversed. 

Who should read Your Brain on Porn?

  • Anyone who thinks they might be suffering from porn addiction
  • Students of psychology or medicine
  • Internet connoisseurs seeking to understand the effects of excessive porn consumption

7
Codependent No More

Codependent No More

Melody Beattie
How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
4.4 (326 ratings)

What's Codependent No More about?

Codependent No More (1986) is a modern classic that sheds light on codependent relationships. It’s filled with helpful insights into codependency and outlines some basic tools that people can use to recover.

Who should read Codependent No More?

  • People who are compulsive caretakers
  • Those attracted to dysfunctional relationships
  • Anyone affected by a loved one’s drinking or substance abuse

8
The Addiction Inoculation

The Addiction Inoculation

Jessica Lahey
Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence
4.1 (141 ratings)

What's The Addiction Inoculation about?

The Addiction Inoculation (2021) is a parents’ guide to raising kids who have the knowledge, support, and self-confidence necessary to steer clear of the twin dangers of alcohol and drug use. From peer pressure to self-efficacy, it examines the risks kids need to avoid, and the defenses they need to acquire, in order to live happy, healthy, and substance-free lives.

Who should read The Addiction Inoculation?

  • Parents who want to raise drink- and drug-free kids
  • Teachers interested in the psychology of addiction

9
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

Matthew Perry
A Memoir
4.5 (417 ratings)

What's Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing about?

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing (2022) is the intimate memoir of critically acclaimed actor Matthew Perry. From his troubled childhood to his meteoric rise to fame in the hit sitcom Friends to his lifelong struggle with substance abuse and addiction, Perry holds nothing back as he reveals his life, thoughts, and soul.

Who should read Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing?

  • Friends fans looking for a deeper insight into one of the show's strongest comedic voices
  • People curious about the darker side of celebrity lives
  • Anyone struggling with addiction

10
The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

Allen Carr
Join the Millions Who Have Become Non-Smokers Using Allen Carr's Easyway Method
4.1 (147 ratings)

What's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking about?

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking (1985, 2011) isn’t just a book about giving up cigarettes; it aims to put smoking in a completely new light. Smoking is no habit and nicotine no hard drug; smoking is an addiction, but one that can be overcome with the right mindset. These blinks outline the necessary steps and address those questions that’ll arise on your journey to a life without cigarettes.

Who should read The Easy Way to Stop Smoking?

  • Smokers struggling to quit
  • People interested in the case for quitting
  • Those who want to learn why willpower alone won’t help you quit

11
Beat Sugar Addiction Now!

Beat Sugar Addiction Now!

Jacob Teitelbaum and Chrystle Fiedler
The Cutting-Edge Program That Cures Your Type of Sugar Addiction and Puts You on the Road to Feeling Great – and Losing Weight!
3.8 (109 ratings)

What's Beat Sugar Addiction Now! about?

Sugar addiction is a very common affliction these days, and one that carries serious health risks – but it can be overcome. Beat Sugar Addiction Now! (2010) explains the four different kinds of sugar addiction, as well as their root causes, associated health implications and the steps you can take to beat them.

Who should read Beat Sugar Addiction Now!?

  • Anyone who feels powerless against their sweet tooth
  • People looking to lead a healthier lifestyle
  • Women who get irritable and have sugar cravings during their periods

12
The Distraction Addiction

The Distraction Addiction

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
Getting the Information You Need and the Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your Colleagues and Destroying Your Soul.
4.1 (103 ratings)

What's The Distraction Addiction about?

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s The Distraction Addiction (2013) takes a look at attention in today’s distraction-riddled society and asks how we can stay connected and productive. Drawing on fascinating new research by neuroscientists and psychologists, as well as traditional Buddhist thought, Pang offers hands-on advice on how to stay focused and overcome our internet addictions in a new digital age.

Who should read The Distraction Addiction?

  • Parents with internet-addicted children
  • Anyone who feels they couldn’t do without the internet for a day
  • The seriously distracted looking for tips to boost their attention

13
Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Kate Andersen Brower
The Grit and Glamour of an Icon
4.2 (163 ratings)

What's Elizabeth Taylor about?

Elizabeth Taylor (2022) is an enthralling authorized biography of one of Hollywood's most famous stars. This fascinating and complete portrait of the legend chronicles her life of fame, tragedy, love, and loss.

Who should read Elizabeth Taylor?

  • Elizabeth Taylor devotees
  • Classic Hollywood aficionados
  • Romance fans

14
Love Warrior

Love Warrior

Glennon Doyle
A Memoir
4.0 (84 ratings)

What's Love Warrior about?

Love Warrior (2017) by Glennon Doyle is a memoir that recounts how one woman battled through addiction, disordered eating, and betrayal by confronting and ultimately owning her vulnerabilities. More than that, it’s a meditation on what pain has to teach us, and how, by embracing our own failings, we can live as our most authentic selves.

Who should read Love Warrior?

  • Women who try not to take up too much space
  • Mothers struggling to reconnect with their own identities
  • Anyone who’s ever hit rock bottom and wanted to get back up

15
Kitchen Confidential

Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain
Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
4.2 (130 ratings)

What's Kitchen Confidential about?

Kitchen Confidential (2000) gives us an insight into life in the restaurant business. Full of larger-than-life tales about Anthony Bourdain’s life of sex and drugs and haute cuisine, it gives us a no-holds-barred taste of what goes on behind the kitchen door.

Who should read Kitchen Confidential?

  • Fans of Anthony Bourdain
  • Wannabe pro chefs
  • Home cooks looking for hints and tips from a professional

16
Hooked

Hooked

Michael Moss
Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions
4.2 (283 ratings)

What's Hooked about?

Hooked (2021) explores our complex relationship with processed food. It explains why certain foods leave us wanting more, and reveals how our brain chemistry and our evolutionary biology are exploited by the fast-food industry.

Who should read Hooked?

  • Parents wanting to give their children a healthy start
  • Anyone struggling to lose weight
  • Psychology buffs looking for fresh insights

17
Affluenza

Affluenza

John de Graaf
How Overconsumption is Killing Us – and How to Fight Back
4.6 (28 ratings)

What's Affluenza about?

This book is about our serious addiction to consumption: affluenza. Since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve become addicted to shopping, believing we can buy happiness. Affluenza affects us and our society like a disease, and this book offers advice on how we can immunize ourselves against it.

Who should read Affluenza?

  • Anyone interested in sociology
  • Anyone interested in media
  • Anyone interested in curing our addiction to consumption

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