It's Not Okay to Be a Cannibal: How to Keep Addiction from Eating Your Family Alive

The book "It's not okay to be a Cannibal" was recommended to me by a friend who owns a treatment facility in the Rocky Mountains. The principles are sound, the writing is engaging and the book explains alcoholism and recovery in a personal way that the reader can identify with. This book reinforces many of the same principles we stress at Changing Lives Foundation. Another resource that is similar and also directedWhy Don't They JUST QUIT?Why Don't They Just QUIT? DVD Roundtable Discussion: What families and friends need to know about addiction and recovery. toward the families of those addicted is the book/DVD "Why Don't They JUST QUIT?" by Joe Herzanek Why Don't They JUST QUIT?

This book helped my family with having a loved one in our family with addiction. Extremely informative and helpful with suggestions. Options were given that were not coming easily into the family that had been affected deeply. Thanks. Susan

A must read for anyone dealing with addiction in their family. Gives you a much clearer perspective.

As a father of 5 children I want to encourage all parents with young children (and those who are still in the planning stage) to read this book. Yes, the book is all about addictions and actually says very little about parenting, per se. But here's what it DOES describe: the seamy underside of life no one wants to talk about until it's (sometimes) too late. I hope none of my children (and none of yours) ever has to go through addictions and withdrawal, but addictions are real. You'd have to live under a rock not to recognize it's a fact of life today. But it doesn't have to be a fact of YOUR life. And that's the beauty part of this book. Although I'm certain the authors didn't set out to shock readers into recognizing the importance of being an involved parent, it does achieve this better than any other parenting book I've ever read. In about 150 pages we parents get to see what happens when we overly coddle, forget to establish firm boundaries and lack the personal discipline to discipline. We are treated to the cold, hard outcome when parents replace tough love (the authors call it "clarity") with pacifism. Pacifistic parenting is the kind that says things like, "Here's some money son, go entertain yourself...I'm busy working making money to pay for the stuff we all `need.'" Eventually the kid gets the message and finds something to replace the relationship and structure they're supposed to get from their parents, putting them on a collision course for being a character in this book. There is a price to pay (sooner or later) and this book gives graphic detail (even from the authors' own lives) of the hell we'll all pay if we continue failing to step up. And trust me; the cost of fixing things when children are young is far cheaper than the cost later on.

I am the program chair for parentshelpingparents.info and one of my roles to review books on addictions and select one as our book of the quarter. I have selected this book for the second quarter of 2007. It is one of the very best books I have read that communicates to families in a manner that is both direct, loving and honest. I felt like I was in my living room visiting with the author's face to face. The information presented goes beyond education; it makes an ingenious transition which pierces the wall of denial, we as families, must conquer before progress for our loved one is possible. Respectfully, Pat Nichols Program Chair Parents Helping Parents, Inc. Edmond, Ok