The best 17 Overcoming Addiction books

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.

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.

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?

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.