Stay sober

Help for Alcoholics and those with alcohol problems

Introduction: How to Use This Book

This book is divided into three main parts.

• The first part helps you to make the decisions you will need to make in order to plan your route through treatment for your alcohol problem.
• The second part consists of a number of chapters which describe the best route through treatment for you (according to the research evidence), and tells you how to find all local help contacts (generated from your postcode). You should read only one of the chapters in Part II; you will know which oneto read after you have finished Part I, and read the Introduction to Part II.
• The third part tells you how to increase your chances of success to the absolute maximum.

Whatever you do, do not read through the whole of Part II. The chapters in Part II are similar, but also contain vital differences which depend on things like whether or not you are physically addicted to alcohol, and whether you plan to continue to drink in the long term or to stop drinking forever. Part I will help you to make these decisions.

Giving up or controlling your drinking is hard work, and there's no magic cure. However, over the years, researchers have discovered which treatments work best. This doesn't mean that they will 100% definitely work for you.

It does mean that if you follow the advice in this book, then you will maximise your chances of succeeding, and reduce the odds of returning to heavy drinking to a minimum. In a way it's all about reducing those odds against you to a minimum - the whole way along the line, starting now, and continuing for the rest of your life.

And one more thing - to really make the most of this book you should get individual expert advice on the best way forward for you. Everyone is different. I cannot account for those individual differences in this book (apart from providing you with all your local help contacts from your postcode). At the end of each Chapter I will remind you of the ways to get free expert advice for you as an individual. This advice is provided by:

Now, have a look at the next page before you start reading - this should help you find your way through the book.

Next page .. Start Reading - Diagram

How To Enjoy Life Without Alcohol index