19 Best Books on Addiction

Suffering from addiction can be a lonely, tiring, and downright painful experience. Regardless of the source of their addiction, many people with this condition feel that no one can truly understand their struggles and suffering. And this should not come as a surprise – what leads many people to addictive disorders is the feeling of being misunderstood, taken for granted, unseen and unheard.

So they look for drugs, alcohol, social media, or other forms of escapism to feel understood and to find relief from their pain. Unfortunately, the tendency to isolate oneself from society and other people only fuels addiction. And this isolation, in turn, exacerbates one’s belief that they are all alone with their addiction.

If you have ever suffered from addictive disorders, even if it was social media, shopping, or simply your phone, you might already understand how valuable it is to find a voice that speaks a story similar to yours. You might have searched for movies, video series, and books that describe all the feelings and emotions you couldn’t put into words.

And this is totally understandable – at our core, we all long to be heard and to know for a fact that we are not the only ones having intrusive thoughts, dealing with grief, shame, loneliness, or whatever heavy emotion might burden us.

This is why searching for content that helps us understand our condition is valuable beyond words. A book about addiction does not only provide us with useful information about what we can do to get out of our suffering – but it also gives us hope, safety, and the feeling that finally, someone understands everything we go through.

When searching for books on addiction, many individuals want, more than anything, a glimmer of hope that recovery is possible for them. They want to know that someone has made it to the other side of addiction and has overcome all the hardships in the process. Since recovery is a very lonely journey, many individuals who are in it also want to know that someone out there can keep them company, even in a different time and location.

This is why, in this article, I am going to make a comprehensive list of valuable books that anyone who suffers from addiction can read as part of their recovery journey. You might want to find books that are more informative, science-based, or you might simply want to read someone’s account of how addiction feels for them. No matter what type of resources you are seeking right now, I hope this guide will offer something highly valuable for any type of needs in the context of addiction.

Autobiographies and Memoirs

1. Blackout – Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola

A puzzling, engaging, and honest memoir, this book tells the story of a woman embarking on the adventure of becoming sober. For the main character of the story, alcohol was a mandatory part of the human experience. Drinking brought her freedom, which she craved ever since she was born. However, there was a very high price to pay for this temporary sense of liberation. It came with blacking out up to the point where she had to become the detective of her own life. As a result, much of her existence became a mystery – she no longer knew what she was doing, whom she was talking to, where her life was heading.

The recovery journey, therefore, became a different kind of adventure – one in which she discovered lost parts of herself that were buried in all moments when alcohol stole her conscience and memory. In this memoir, the author describes, with laugh-out-loud humour, how she found the resources in her sober life that she only thought existed in the moments she was drunk. This book is about reinventing oneself in the midst of challenges and bringing back parts of oneself that got lost during the addiction-fuelled years. It is also about the joy of finding yourself once again and coming home to the most authentic self after a long period of trying to escape your mind and your body.

2. Drinking – A Love Story by Karoline Knapp

For many women, the pressure to maintain the perfect appearance in their careers and family lives can hide nothing but suffering. This was also the case for Caroline Knapp, who started drinking when she was fourteen and carried on throughout her twenties. Behind her Ivy League education and successful career as an award-winning editor and columnist was an unhappy little girl who was too scared to face the difficulties of real life. So she poured drink after drink until the love affair with alcohol become a twenty-year story plagued by secrecy, destructive relationships and self-betrayal.

Drinking – A Love Story tells the story of a woman who triumphed over the challenges that came with alcoholism in a passionate, engaging, and fun writing style. The story shows that no matter how long one’s relationship with the source of their addiction might be, we can still come back home to our most authentic selves and be victorious over the pain and deception that mark the alcoholic life.

3. Girl Walks out of a Bar by Lisa F. Smith

This is a humorous and honest memoir of a high-functioning addict who thrives in the corporate world. Written in an inspiring and informative manner, the book draws the reader not the desperate reality of high-functioning addiction. It shows the ugly part of those who survive with this mental illness far from everyone’s eyes by showing the denial, loneliness, depression, blackout and coke that happen behind the impeccable image of the corporate world.

The memoir presents the story of New York lawyer Lisa Smith who almost loses herself in a spiralling addiction disorder while trying to cope with the anxiety and stress of overwhelming workload. Girl Walks out of a Bar then goes on to relate, in a raw and unflagging way, how all the years of quiet desperation eventually lead to a hopeful road to recovery. The protagonist eventually learns to pinpoint all the coping mechanisms that led to her addictive disorders and to replace them with ones that help her regain sobriety.

4. Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism by George McGovern

Found dead in a snowbank just before Christmas 1994, Terry McGovern fought a life-long battle with alcoholism. Only forty-five years old, Terry left behind two young daughters and a caring family who were unable to save her from the demons of alcoholism.

The book was written by Terry’s dad who gathered her diaries, medical records and conducted interviews with her friends to reveal the factors that led her to this fatal disease. What he discovered, instead, was a young fragile woman who had enough love for everyone except herself. Terry was haunted by severe depression and a crippling tendency for self-destruction which have thrown her in the arms of alcoholism. A deeply moving, raw, and honest account of addiction, this book is a must for families affected by alcoholism and who are trying to help a loved one crumbled by addiction.

5. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

Written in captivating prose and straightforwardness that rejects self-pity, this book reveals a nuanced understanding of the nature of addiction in the face of recovery. The protagonist James Ferry has entered a drug treatment facility after putting his body through extreme situations that almost led to death. While he looked to recovery as an easier road compared to the years marked by addiction, he finds instead the tormenting detoxification process and crippling urges to relapse. Recovery, he shows, is not a glamorous process or the end of all addiction-related suffering, but it is the road he must walk to regain his freedom.

Sooner or later, any addicted person must confront the consequences of the choices they made up to a point. And to James Ferry, this means undergoing the hell of recovery to rebuild his life and find parts of himself that got lost during the years of severe addiction.

In the end, A Million Little Pieces is also a book reconstruction. It shows that recovery is possible, and even the most torn apart lives can be put together with the right support and people. The book aims to offer an optimistic perspective to those who feel that their addiction is embedded too deep within their identity to ever live without it. It shows that no matter how weak, defeated, or lost one can feel in their addiction, recovery waits for everyone.

6. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man: A Memoir by Bill Clegg

What else do you desire when you already have everything a human being could wish for? Apparently, Bill Clegg did not find an answer to this question to save himself from his crack addiction. Behind his thriving business as a literary agent, a supportive partner, a reliable friends network and trusted colleagues, Bill was battling the demons of a crack addiction who nearly cost him all his material possessions and nearly his life.

An initial attempt at recovery was sadly followed by a major relapse marked by a two-month crack binge in which he smoked away his business, 70,000$ bank account, 40 pounds of his body weight and a loving and supportive romantic partnerships. This captivating memoir of Bill Clegg shows not just the painful and highly disturbing patterns of addiction, but also draws a map to his past, where the real roots of his crack addiction are. Portraits of an Addict as a Young Man is a compelling narrative written in beautiful and lyrical prose that we won’t be able to look away.

7. Guts by Kristen Johnston

A New York Times bestseller,  Guts is a harrowing and fascinating memoir written by the Emmy Award winning actress who is most recognised from the television show 3rd Rock from the Sun.

In her first published book, author Kristen Johnston describes the heartbreaking journey of moving from a hidden addiction to full recovery. She describes how despite her successful career and appearance was a deep and overwhelming fear of slowing down, which is what fueled her cocaine addiction. Written in a frank, candid, and deeply humorous way, Guts shows that triumph over the most intricate addiction types is possible. The author does not only show the dark, disturbing, and highly difficult aspect of addiction, which is so familiar to all those plagued by it, but especially demonstrates that that life after recovery can exist indeed. A tragic, heartbreaking, and raw memoir that will stay with the reader for a long time.

8. Unwifeable by Mandy Stadtmiller

A debut memoir written by the dating columnist Mandy Stadmiller, this book will accompany along your recovery journey as a trusted and supportive friend. Written in a eccentric style, Unwifeable presents the story of a recently divorced woman who wishes to reinvent herself following an unsuccessful marriage. She moves across the country and arms herself to take on the world as a new person. However, despite the hard-working and strong persona, the author drowns herself in an ever-consuming drug addiction marked by successive blackouts and regrettable decisions.

As she tries to find her way out of drug addiction, Mandy searches for the truth wherever she finds it – in new love stories and thrilling parties. However, soon enough she realises that true acceptance comes from herself first, and this is when her recovery journey begins.

A typical New York tale, Unwifeable is a great guide for those wanting to make a radical change in the midst of their addiction. It gives you energy, optimism, and a perfect roadmap to search for the truth.

9. Party Girl by Anna David

The exclusive Hollywood lifestyle filled with celebrity parties, ultimate sex and an overall wild existence did not save celebrate journalist Amelia Stone from the deep hole of drug addiction. Even if on the surface she has got everything a young girl needs, an out-of-control and spiralling coke habit lead her life to a downward spiral that soon becomes uncontrollable.

The addiction life, behind the glamorous facade, is rather ugly and downright terrifying: it comes with job and friends losses and an emotional rollercoaster created by hospital visits. Fortunately, the nightmare that she finds herself in soon becomes too overwhelming to carry on. So Amelia Stone decides to pursue a recovery journey that ultimately becomes more rewarding than she anticipates. After regaining sobriety, she meets someone new and gets hired by a famous magazine.

Party girl shows the vulnerability of the main character who manages to come out victorious from all challenges thrown at her. However, even in the darkest hours of her addiction, Amelia defies her circumstances with a contagious optimism and an unapologetic candor.

10. Parched by Heather King

If you are looking to draw a spiritual meaningful from an addiction, this book might be just perfect for what you need. A tragicomic memoir about addiction presented as spiritual thirst, Perched by Heather King describes how she dove into the abyss of addiction over an entire decade. Her existence as an aspiring writer was sustained by waitressing at local restaurants followed by regular drinking sessions that soon became normality for her.

Luckily enough, she had the support of a loving family who helped her move upward from the abyss of her despair. King soon realised that despite her profound, poetic, and sensitive nature, she also had a real alcoholism addiction that needs to be healed. In her recovery journey, she learned highly valuable spiritual lessons related to redemption, compassion, and suffering that served her in better understanding the universal needs of the human nature.

A highly moving and insightful read that makes great references to spirituality and its role in recovery.

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When you are on a recovery journey, any type of support – real or imagined – can help you live another day through this difficult process. Many people find a sense of companionship and relatedness in memoirs. They feel that their emotions, struggles, and desperation is lived and written by someone else. And in some cases, these struggles are shared by people who on the surface seem to have the “perfect” life and cannot ever feel that something is missing.

Therefore, if you are in need of inspiration for books about addiction, I hope that the list above will help you pick a title suitable for you.

However, if you are a sciency type who wants to better understand how addiction actually works, why it is so impossible to escape it and how recovery can be achieved, do not worry, I haven’t forgotten you. In the following paragraphs, I compiled the best and more informative resources on the science behind addiction. I hope that no matter what type of information you are looking for right now, you can still find something valuable that will stick with you.

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1. Recovery – Freedom Over our Addiction by Russel Brand

“A manual for self-realisation” as the author has described, Recovery tells the personal story of famous comedian Russel Brand who has struggles with decades of addiction behind the facade of fame.

The interesting fact about this book is that the author struggles with all addiction types – drugs, sex, alcohol, caffeine, work, stress, digital media, and finally fame. This insightful book shows that it is not a substance per se that makes people addicted, but rather their inner mechanisms which are trying to protect them from their pain and suffering. In Recovery – Freedom from our Addiction, Russel describes with honesty, humour, and compassion how his fame become so uncontrollable that he had to use substances in order to keep the appearance of a strong, well-rounded person.

Fortunately enough, getting to the rock bottom of his suffering pushed him to seek help and eventually engage in a long-term recovery process. He entered rehab and followed a 12-steps recovery programme about which he speaks in great detail in his book. For the author, recovery brought meaningful and intense spiritual lessons that determined him to look deeper into his inner life and source of his pain.

The book is an excellent source of strength and inspiration and it shows that no matter how complex one’s addiction is, this can be used as a strong catalyst for deep change.

2. Codependent no More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melodie Beatie

Written by one of the most beloved self-help authors on addiction and recovery, Codependent no More is an excellent resource in anyone’s healing and recovery journey. Even though the title does not directly relate to addiction, the book shows, through instructive stories, exercises, and self-tests, how many addicts simply do not know how to make the best decisions for themselves as a result of codependent personality traits.

Simply explained, codependency refers to the idea of abandoning oneself for the sake of others. In many individuals who suffer from addiction, this habit is learned early in childhood, when they are abandoned by their parents (either physical and emotionally). Therefore, caring for oneself does not come easily for someone with addiction. They will put anyone else first except themselves. Over time, the failure to express one’s needs and to care for oneself results in psychological distress and various types of addiction, as was the author’s case.

Codependent no More is a straightforward journey in the confusing world of codependency – it helps those who suffer from it recognise it and eventually break free from it. As the author Melodie Beatie claims, when someone decides to return to themselves, they are already one step further to breaking free from the things that kept them stuck in addiction. A fascinating read that will provide anyone with information, warmth, and compassion along their recovery journey.

3. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts – Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Mate

If you want to dive deeper into the roots of addiction and perhaps address it from a more holistic view, Gabor Mate’s masterpiece might be the perfect book for you.

With over two decades of experience as a medical doctor, Mate controversially debates how addiction has been misunderstood by the medical field that failed to take into account the root causes of this issue. He presents addictive disorders as complex phenomena that stem from an interplay between emotional factors, neurological development, social issues, brain chemistry and transgenerational history. In the book, he also simplifies the most recent addiction findings while avoiding the typical self-help approach that is so common in other books.

In the realm of hungry ghosts includes a mix of personal stories of those impacted by addiction, as well as science explained for lay persons and practical solutions.

The book will completely change your understanding of addiction as a mental health disorder caused by weak willpower. Instead, it will help you see the complex web of personal trauma, disconnection, and social systems that all contribute to the suffering behind addictive disorders.

4. Beyond addiction – How Science and Kindness Help People Change by Jeffrey Foote

What many addicts lack, in fact, is compassion and support from their families and support network. As the researcher Gabor Mate has claimed in his book, addiction is a disease of disconnection – and recovery from it entails reconnecting to ourselves, other people, and society.

In Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, Jeffrey Foote proposes a groundbreaking method that encourages family members to support their loved one throughout their addiction journey. However, this method is a not technical one – it involves the transformative potential of kindness, positive reinforcement, and motivational and behavioural strategies to help someone recover from their addictive tendencies. Using the insights from forty years of research combined with his clinical experience, the author offers the best practical advice based on science and the humanist approach.

Unlike other books in the field that are mainly centred on the addicted individual, the present work empowers friends and family to bring their role in helping someone recover from their addictive suffering. This new approach not only makes the journey of the individual in recovery less overwhelming, but also emphasises the key role that families, communities, and society play in curbing addictive tendencies. The transformative power of relationships is just as important in someone’s recovery as their own individual effort – and this is a rather novel perspective that science and the medical approach have omitted up to now.

The book is just as important for the friends and families of the addicted individual as it is for the individual themselves. It offers a guide to what can be done by the surrounding social circle to support the individual in recovery; it also provides a reminder that “although no one can make other person change, there is much that can be done to make change seem appealing as possible”. And this quote perfectly sums up the role of loved ones in addiction and recovery – they can be, at best, a mirror for the struggling individual and a reminder that change is possible.

If you are not struggling with addiction yourself, but only wish to educate yourself on how you can best be there for someone with this mental condition, this book might be a great guide to start with.

5. Unbroken brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction by Maia Szalavitz

Despite the increasing number of addiction cases, the understanding of this mental condition is still trapped in 20th century ideas. Unfortunately, society still views addicted individuals as having broken brains, low motivation and willpower, and, as a result, they are marginalised outside society.

Unbroken Brain – A Revolutionary new way of Understanding Addiction challenges the old outdated perspectives on addiction and instead offers new lenses through which we can see those suffering from it. The author, a former addict and an outstanding thinker, rejects the notions of “broken brain” or “addictive personality” that blocks access to recovery of so many individuals around the world. Instead, she argues, addictions are, at their core, learning disorders that affect the way in which someone copes with life challenges. She further argues that history, culture, family, peers, and chemicals all play a significant role in triggering and maintaining additive symptoms. This is why this book really challenges the notion that there is a single predisposition towards addiction or a unique treatment approach. What addicted individuals need, in fact, is a complete understanding of the factors that lead them to hide in compulsive behaviours and substance abuse.

6. Rewired: A Bold New Approach to Addiction and Recovey by Erica Spiegelman

Written in a compassionate and engaging voice, Rewired provides an evolutionary approach to recovery that emphasises the role one plays in their own addiction.

Including a holistic perspective on the individual – mind, body, and spirit, the book aims to guide you towards sobriety. However, the concept of sobriety is discussed only in relation to mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Addicted individuals do not only suffer the physical side effects of addiction – they are disconnected from their true selves and inner power, struggle with emotional breakdowns and have a distorted perception of the world.

In this informative, friendly and captivating read, Erica Spiegel offers a practical guide for rewriting the behaviours that lead to addiction in conjunction with a 12-step program. Using personal anecdotes from the author’s own experience with addiction, the author invites the reader to reflect on the things that are missing from their recovery journey or that stand in their way to success.

Ultimately, the book aims to provide the optimism that individuals on the recovery journey so need to progress on their path to recovery. It also aims to encourage patience and compassion towards oneself so that recovery is approached from a humanistic perspective rather than a medical one. Also, the book is a clear reminder for the fact that addicted individuals are not people with broken brains – they just have a few wires that have to be re-organised.

7. Never Enough – The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction by Judith Grisel

An important part of recovery from addiction is the self-education one can get about what this mental disorder actually does to their brain. This book written by a renowned neuroscientist and recovering addict uses personal insights to reveal how drugs work and how they fundamentally change the structure of the brain.

The author Judith Grisel had a long battle with addiction that started in her teenage years. Now, after a 25-year long career as a neuroscientist, she has gathered enough insight and information into the best approach that could lead her to long-term recovery.

She also shares what drove her to become addicted and what helped her get out of this unfortunate disease – interestingly enough, she relates that the cure for addiction is not found within our individual brains, but in the way we create relationships with our communities.

Never Enough: The neuroscience and experience of addiction is a great combination of brain science and personal anecdotes that can give you plenty of insights into how you can best approach your own recovery.

8. Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker

Alcohol is a compulsory part of our lives. Our most important events are celebrated with. We use it after a difficult day or offer it a solution to friends who need to “relax”. Yet no one ever questions the necessity of drinking, or, even more importantly, the downside of it.

The author and best selling author Holly Whitaker bravely decides to question alcohol’s status quo and break the unquestioned relationship our society has with alcohol. After being reduced to silence by a crippling alcohol addiction, she finally decides to pursue the journey of recovery and find her way to sobriety. In her journey, she not only regained her personal strength in the face of former drinking behaviours, but she also started a quest on the socially acceptable behaviours such as drinking and smoking.

With strong ambition and determination, Holly invites women to rethink their own reasons related to drinking. She outlines how alcohol companies target women specifically and lead them to perceive the act of drinking as a viable solution for escaping their lives. Even more interestingly, the author also proposes a new model of recovery: one that is more female-centred and takes into account their needs in the recovery journey. As opposed to the former model of recovery that encouraged people to submit their egos to God, the model presented in this book invites women to cultivate a deeper understanding of their identities and to look at their own resources they can use in the battle against alcoholism.

This new model prompted her to create a femine-centric recovery program that helps women get to the root cause of their drinking problem and take control of their lives. Witty, honest, and daring, this book will change the way you look at alcohol and will help you shape a roadmap to get out of addictive behaviours for good.

9. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media by Jaron Lanier

If you are in the vicious cycle of social media addiction, this book might offer an insightful perspective. While it doesn’t give you a step by step guide on how to live without your social accounts for the rest of your life, the book is full of revolutionary ideas on why we are better off without social media.

The arguments presented in Lanier’s book are related, not not limited to, how social media brings the worst in us, how it tricks us with the illusion of popularity and success and how it disconnects us from real-life relationships. It also warns us of the dangers of having our data exposed to rich corporations that rob us of our autonomity and privacy. Surely, you might think that all these are a good price to pay for the benefits we get in exchange for using social media. However, as you will see in this book, the apparent pros of having a social media account pale in contrast to the catastrophic losses of privacy, connection, and joy.

Reading Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media will drastically change your perception on social media. And sometimes this be just what you need in order to cut down on the time you spend scrolling through social channels. Even if you simply want to read the book for information purposes or you want to break free from social media habits, the perspectives presented here will change the way you use your social accounts.

Final Words

The books presented in this article are a varied mix of memories, self-help and science resources that address the controversial topic of addiction. I hope you will find one that addresses your fears, hopes, and expectations about the experience of addiction and recovery.

Finally, I truly hope that at least a few of the books in this list will accompany you through this challenging journey or equip you with the knowledge you need to help someone else in the process of recovery.