Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption

I bought this for a crack addict who is in a county jail, facing time in prison. He told me when he was still in the first quarter of the book that he wanted me to read it as well. He said this was an excellent book and he doesn't want to let it go. This comes from someone who doesn't normally like to read and gets easily bored. Normally inmates have to turn in their purchased books to the facility library in order to get any new books. But he insist that I need to read this one and wants me to arrange to pick it up rather than turn it in. I don't personally know what a crack addiction feels like, but I am painfully aware of the lifestyle changes, the damage it does to a family and how it can make a good person do bad things no matter how much they want to stop. I'd say since a true blue crack addict thinks this book hits on the life of an addict, then if you're looking for a book to help you relate or to share with an addict, this would be a good one to read.God BlessUPDATED REVIEW:I have pesonally read this book since I posted my last comments and I must say it was instrumental in helping me understand what he's going through. It helped me understand what is to come and how not to enable him and what to watch for during his recovery. I learned this through a story format, not an instructional format. In other words, you pick up on all these things by hearing his "story" If you're looking for something to help you relate to the mind of an addict (especially crack), this is THE book to read! I haven't read any other addiction books to compare it to, but this one helped me understand everything about how he got there (even though he was raised better) and gives proof that someone can recover, though it's hard as hell. The guy that wrote this book came from a very privelaged family and was a journalist. The journalist in him meant that he kept his/family's writings during his addiction. These notes and letters then gave him excellent references to write the book once he came through.I can't recommend it enough!

What is it like to be addicted to drugs? If you don't know, then hold your breath. I mean it. Literally stop breathing right now while I try to explain to you what addiction is like. According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we have basic demands that must be met, such as oxygen, food and water, before we can attain higher goals like love and career, then finally self-actualization. Addiction rips this hierarchy to shreds. You may start out using drugs to have a good time, but as you continue using, drugs slowly bump their way up your list of priorities by physically changing the basic structure and shape of nerve cells until the craving becomes a "physiological imperative," overriding the need for sex, food and water. O.K. you can breathe now. You need oxygen to survive. Before you started reading this, you weren't even thinking about breathing. But as you held your breath, your need for oxygen started bumping it's way up your list of priorities until finally you could think of nothing else. Breathe or die. That's what it feels like to be addicted to drugs. But if you want a more in-depth explanation of what drug addiction and recovery is like, then you should read Broken, a memoir written by William Cope Moyers with Katherine Ketcham. You may already be familiar with Moyers' father, Bill Moyers, who was an executive assistant for Lyndon Baines Johnson and deputy director of the Peace Corps for President Kennedy, besides being one of the country's top journalists. Broken is one of the most enlightening and inspiring addiction/recovery memoirs I've read. It's opened my eyes to the fact that no one is immune form this disease. You couldn't ask for a better childhood and family than Moyers' own. Yet he still became a crack addict. A home with good morals and values will not protect a kid from future drug addiction, contrary to what many people believe. But what did cause Moyers to become a drug addict? If you look at it from the nature/nurture perspective, he was told when he was young that he was just like his Uncle James, who died from addiction at thirty-eight. As for nurture, he set the seemingly impossible goal of attaining greater success than his over-achieving father by the age of thirty. When his goal was not met, he became frustrated and found that drugs relieved his inner-turmoil. It took a failed marriage and four trips through treatment for Boyers to finally start truly recovering. One statement he makes about his recovery jarred me because it has been so true in my own life: "I had no idea, not even a clue, that before I could defeat my addiction I would have to destroy myself." Moyers is now an advocate for treatment for addicts and alcoholics and is the vice president of external affairs at Hazelden, his treatment Alma Mater. The most powerful part of his story is his battle with skin cancer after recovery and how he compares society's treatment of one disease with the other. If you have any doubts that addiction is a disease, then you should know that the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the World Health Organization all consider alcoholism and addiction a disease. Yet no one is wearing ribbons for this disease that afflicts millions. Victims of cancer, heart disease and diabetes don't have to worry about being stigmatized, shamed and humiliated. They don't have to haggle with their insurance companies for adequate coverage even though these diseases can also be caused or exacerbated by the behavior of the sufferer who may continue eating an unhealthy diet or not exercising. How much more successful would drug treatment be if we treated the addict with the same outpouring of compassion, support and sympathy that we do with these other diseases? Mr. Moyers is a huge inspiration to me and to others who suffer from this illness. Broken is a superbly written book and a courageous effort that could only have been achieved by digging much deeper than most are willing to go. Broken has given me hope, inspiration and life-saving information, and it will for you too if you or someone you love is suffering from this disease.David Allan ReevesAuthor of "Running Away From Me"

Thank you Cope Moyers for the most couragous and honest story of recovery I've ever read . Yes I am an addict/alchoholic who has lived a very similar story . I am an avid reader as well , and never before have I been so touched by the too familiar feelings and experiences related in this narrative ; the gut twisting horror of powerlessness and despair , the crushing weight of guilt and shame increasing after each relapse ( failure ! ). Yes it is THIS BAD -THIS IS ADDICTION ! And everyone needs to know , not just the addict/alcholic or family member because unless you are homebound , likely in your every daily routine you will encounter one of us . We usually look just like everyone else, as Moyers emphasises ,that is until we're suddenly , "surprise" , dead . The overall message is one of real hope and advocacy for , what someday I think we'll admit,is the deadliest disease in our nation . Now the warning . I would not reccomend this for anyone in early recovery especially from crack cocaine . The experiencies in the first 2/3 s of the book are so powerfully graphic , so real ,It could be too much for the raw emotions of early recovery . Though crack was not my waterloo I had to put the book down several times . I also had to put it down for a lot of good cries of empathy which I found cathartic . With that aside , buy it and make sure its on the shelves of your public library .

This book is an absolute must for anyone, but especially those connected to someone with any addiction problem... the world needs to understand this illness has the same gravity as any other progressive disease, it kills, not only the sufferer but also those close to them. We want to help. The best way is to arm ourselves with knowledge which will teach us to look after ourselves and know how to deal with the illness the addict is suffering from without judgement. Enabling is what we who care for the addict must first address, along with acceptance and 'letting go'. The hardest thing I have ever done. The twelve step programmes save lives....