Free eBooks The Lost Years: Surviving A Mother And Daughter's Worst Nightmare Available To Downloads
A child caught in the horror of alcohol and drug addition. A mother helplessly standing by unable to save her. The Lost Years is the real life story of just such a mother and child, each giving their first-hand accounts of the years lost to addiction and despair. Kristina, the second of four children, tells how she turns to alcohol for comfort when she is thirteen. She gives a brutally honest description of her descent into addiction, prostitution, burglary and violent rape until her near death on the floor of a homeless shelter completely alone at the age of twenty-one. Adding a heart-wrenching counterpart to the story, Kristina's mother, Connie, tells of her powerlessness to help her addicted daughter, the break-up of her unhappy marriage and how she comes to terms with her own co-dependency. She is also faced with the worst choice a mother has to make, to close the door on Kristina, sending her onto the streets in order to save herself and protect her other children. Then follows the remarkable story of Kristina's recovery as she lives through rehab, her mother's tough love and the years of acclimating herself to living a normal life.
Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Jeffers Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977761819
ISBN-13: 978-0977761814
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (314 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #25,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #40 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Parenting > Parenting Girls #66 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Addiction & Recovery > Alcoholism #77 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Motherhood
A must-read for every parentOf all the addiction memoirs that I have read in the last two years this is one that goes straight to the heart of the matter. Genuine, honest, accessible and heart-breaking are just a few of the words that I would use to describe this powerful book.Written as a joint account of the lives of a mother and daughter during the troubled times of the daughter's addiction and recovery, it is the mother's side of the story that turns out to be the more poignant since she had it all, then lost it, and ultimately had to find her own way out of the mess that her life was in. She took courageous steps to protect her other children from the damage that her addicted daughter could inflict on her family, the most devastating of which was, time and again, to turn the addict away from her door until her daughter learned she had no choice but to be rehabilitated. Very few loving parents can do this and then command the compassion to restore a beautiful relationship with such a prodigal child.It must be rare too that an addict who has been so near to death as she had been from the serious diseases of alcohol and drug addiction should later become so unselfishly involved in helping others suffering. To live with the daughter, as one does in the later pages of this book, whilst she struggles through the recovery process and begins the struggle to re-connect with her family is a testament to the hope that exists and lives within all of us. It is the hope born of a belief that we can change our lives from the worst to the very best and it proves once again that where there is love there is life and where there is life there is always hope.
This is the book I have been waiting for! This is the Owner's Manual for anyone affected by this family disease. So often family members want someone else to change! Bravo Constance! You sought help, put the focus on yourself, set clear boundaries and clear consequences and your family got well. This book is a gift to all parents in a BIG way. Bravo Kristina! You followed your treatment recommendations and got well too. Your book is now mandatory reading for all the teens and all the parents in my teen drug treatment program as well as my graduate students in Counseling Psychology. I predict very big changes as a result of this book. Thank you!Larry Fritzlan, LMFT - Director, Adolescent Recovery Services.
After a year and a half in treatment and two attempts of making it on her own in the real world, my daughter relapsed one more time. Her therapists helped me come to grips with what needed to be done. After cutting her financially off and having her car taken away from her, her therapists told me... "read The Lost Years. It will show you why you have to do what you are doing!" My heart was broken from hearing myself say the words--- we are finished with you financially... and having to tell her that if she didn't do what was recommended for her, she could go out on the streets. I never thought we would have to get to this point. Well- we did! The Lost Years came into my life at a time when I needed a book to not only show me that what we were doing was the right thing but how to do it without feeling guilty. As Constance said.." another senselessness of addiction...."... "when they need you the most you have to turn them away..." Constance is the strongest most admirable mother I know. As I finished the book, tears were streaming down my face. If only my daughter could do what Kristina did!! Alanon has taught me that no person is hopeless. Kristina shows us that. What Kristina and her mother went through was pure hell but they got to the other side of it. They walked through their fears into recovery for both of them and a wonderful life for their famiy. We all need to hear these success stories. We all need role models and these two fine women are they! Thanks for sharing.
This book is well written, easy to read and almost impossible to put down. The subject matter relates to almost all of us. Who among us has not had such an experience or know someone who has, or is going through a similiar situation? I have a better understanding about how this happens and have been given hope that it does not always end in a negative manner.
I have worked in the field of Chemical Dependency recovery for almost 30 years and have read & heard 1000's of 'recovery stories' but there is something about this one that hooks you in & doesn't let you go. It is heart-breaking, courageous and ultimately inspiringly clear-sighted. It's one of the best descriptions of how one family member's co-dependency recovery can alter an addict's destructive life course and also what it really takes to get and stay clean & sober. Kristina is unflinchingly honest, brave and vulnerable as she describes what it was like to climb back from the black pit of addiction and go on to become one of the best Interventionists in the country. The work she does now saves lives and families, alters the course of generations of alcoholism and is motivated by such sincerity of purpose. For anyone who's ever wanted to understand the insanity of addiction, or how the progression occurs, this is the book for you. I keep multiple copies on hand to give out to anyone who's interested in a 'short course' on what Twelve-Step recovery is.This book is a treasure!
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