Author: Jenny Valentish
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1788541626
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Journalist Jenny Valentish takes a gendered look at drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Mining the expertise of 35 leading researchers, clinicians and psychiatrists, she explores the early predictors of addictive behaviour, such as trauma, temperament and impulsivity. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with problematic substance use. From her childhood in suburban Slough to her chaotic formative years in the London music scene, we follow her journey to Australia, where she experiences firsthand treatment facilities and AA groups, and reflects whether or not they are meeting the needs of women. Woman of Substances is an insightful, rigorous and brutally honest read. In Australia it was nominated for a prestigious Walkley Book Award. 'Employing expert interviews and research, each rich personal episode is contextualised within the under-examined issue of women's substance abuse. Detailed, insightful and told with a feature writer's narrative flair' Bookseller and Publisher. 'Engages readers with storytelling while presenting scientific findings and theories in a way that is accessible to a broad audience' Broadsheet. 'Part monograph, part memoir, part Ginsbergian howl of outrage at a culture in which gender bias is a tenet. It is a work of compellingly articulate anger' The Australian. 'In straightforward, lively prose she relates even her darkest moments without self-pity or aggrandisement, and often with a streak of gallows humour, leading to more laugh-out-loud lines than you might expect' The Saturday Paper. 'We need books like this, and writers like Valentish, to give voice to our frustrations and concerns, to help legitimise and mobilise' Kill Your Darlings. 'Valentish's passion lies in exploring the underlying causes and their effects and, in the most female of ways, offering companionship and reassurance for her readers' The Monthly. 'Doesn't mince her words' Sydney Morning Herald.

Author: Jenny Valentish
Publisher: Anima
ISBN: 1788541642
Category : Substance abuse
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A young woman's journey into addiction and treatment. Journalist Jenny Valentish takes a gendered look at drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way.

Author: Jenny Valentish
Publisher: Black Inc.
ISBN: 1925435571
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Journalist Jenny Valentish investigates the female experience of drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Her travels around Australia take her to treatment facilities and AA groups. Mining the expertise of leading researchers, she explores the early predictors of addiction, such as childhood trauma and temperament, and teenage impulsivity. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours - such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex - are interchangeable with problematic substance use. Valentish follows the pathways that women, in particular, take into addiction - and out again. 'Valentish mixes her own careening story with some truly fabulous research. This book taught me things I wasn't expecting about the landscape of substance use.' -Kate Holden 'A fabulous read. Raw, revealing, at times heartbreaking, but searingly honest and clearly aimed to support anyone who is wondering if they will ever recover from addiction. Yes, says Jenny, you can- just don't expect unicorns to visit immediately. Beautifully written, it prompts a broader discussion around the role women's (little-discussed) hormones can play in one's 'addiction and recovery story', and how rarely this has been considered when it comes to models of recovery. Jenny tells a truly hopeful story about one woman who has come to terms with who she is. She looks the beast in the eyes. Well done. '-Clare Bowditch 'A compelling blend of the sociology, psychology and physiology that drives female addiction, seasoned by the author's self-serrating humour and remarkable skill.' -Professor Marc Lewis, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto. Author of The Biology of Desire (2015) and Memoirs of an Addicted Brain (2011) 'Jenny Valentish takes us on a field trip through her vulnerabilities and then, like a tour guide in a foreign land, flag aloft, she provides a path back from the abyss. This is an enormously compelling, confronting and informative piece on addiction and recovery from a female perspective. I know a lot of people I want to give this book to.' -Deborah Conway 'We need books like this, and writers like Valentish, to give voice to our frustrations and concerns, to help legitimise and mobilise.' -Kylie Maslen, Kill Your Darlings '(Woman of Substances is) a startling and thorough investigation into the relationship between gender, trauma and addiction, and the women who fall through the gaps - with the writer offering herself up as the case study.' -Steph Harmon, Guardian Australia 'Employing expert interviews and research, each rich personal episode is contextualised within the under-examined issue of women's substance abuse. Detailed, insightful and told with a feature writer's narrative flair.' -Bookseller and Publisher

Author: Barbara Taylor Bradford
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312353261
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 932

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Book Description
Emma Harte rises from impoverished, pregnant servant to the heights of wealth and power as she parlays a small shop into the world's finest department store, outwitting her enemies, seeking revenge on her betrayers, and realizing her greatest dreams.

Author: Stephen R. Kandall
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674853614
Category : Drug abuse
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
This work uncovers the history of women and addiction in America and how dependent women have been treated. The author is critical of doctors who have often been quick to prescribe narcotics to female patients.

Author: Barbara Taylor Bradford
Publisher: Rosetta Books
ISBN: 0795338430
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1064

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Book Description
One of the top-ten bestselling novels ever written. “An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion.” —The New York Times Barbara Taylor Bradford’s The Emma Harte Saga begins with this record-shattering New York Times bestseller that traces Emma Harte’s legacy through multiple generations of indomitable women. From the servants’ quarters of a manor house on the brooding Yorkshire moors to the helm of a profitable international business, Emma Harte’s life is a sweeping saga of unbreakable spirit and resolve. Rising from abject poverty to glittering wealth at the upper echelons of society, there is only one man the indomitable Emma cannot have—and only one she yearns for. The novel was also the subject of a popular 1984 miniseries starring Jenny Seagrove and Deborah Kerr. “A long, satisfying novel of money, power, passion and revenge set against the sweep of 20th century history.” —Los Angeles Times “A wonderfully entertaining novel.” —The Denver Post “A mighty saga. Little has been so riveting since Gone with the Wind.” —Manchester Evening News “Tailor-made for fans of McCullough’s Thornbirds.” —Publishers Weekly “The storyteller of substance.” —The Times (London)

Author: Sheila F. Eismann
Publisher: Tate Publishing
ISBN: 1606965077
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
As a minister, I am excited to have access to a Bible Study that hits the mark of truth for women who desire to live within our society with confidence of who they are. Establishing a firm spiritual foundation is vital in our unstable world. A Woman of Substance affords an outline upon which to build that foundation, providing a breadth of Biblical teaching that allows deep spiritual growth. In this practical step-by-step study, a woman's beauty is revealed to be deeper than the surface of her skin. Each reader will be able to glean from these practical teachings through clever analogies of everyday applications that will help build her thoughts and boundaries which will stand against any manner of adversity. She will also be able to identify other women of substance and appreciate how they influence the lives of those around them.' -Laura McCullough Co-Founder, Church for Now Boise, Idaho Author Sheila Eismann has ministered to women for over twenty years through leading various small groups and speaking at women's events. Sheila, an accounting services professional and former legal secretary, along with her husband, Dan, the current sitting Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, reside in Eagle, Idaho, where they co-labor among other Christians to help equip the saints for the work of the ministry. They recently celebrated their silver wedding anniversary and thoroughly enjoy spending time with their children, grandchildren, and fabulous friends.

Author: Jenny Valentish
Publisher: Apollo Publishers
ISBN: 195464101X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
A no-holds-barred, gonzo dive into the world of extreme behavior; from abstinence to ego, punishment to curiosity, obsession to reinvention, acclaimed journalist Jenny Valentish uncovers what drives those who push the limits of endurance. What do extreme eaters, MMA fighters, ultra-marathon runners, and BDSM practitioners have in common? What drives some people to push their bodies and minds to the brink, putting everything on the line to test the bounds of their capacity? When Jenny Valentish worked through her own addictions, she became fascinated by extremes in their myriad and unexpected manifestations. In the darkly funny, brash, and irresistible Everything Harder Than Everyone Else, Valentish immerses herself in the lives of sex workers, body builders, and dedicated fighters and finds that many of the people she encounters have overcome addictions and trauma to find release and community where the stakes are at their highest. Harnessing a journalistic approach that’s equal parts brazenly curious and remarkably compassionate, Valentish finds herself neck-deep in her own investigation, embroiling herself in the world of competitive Muay Thai fighting and in the dark chambers of a BDSM dungeon. At every turn she stares unflinchingly into the darker corners of culture that polite society ignores and repudiates, asking readers and herself, how far are you willing to go?

Author: Kathleen T. Brady
Publisher: Guilford Press
ISBN: 160623403X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
For many years, addiction research focused almost exclusively on men. Yet scientific awareness of sex and gender differences in substance use disorders has grown tremendously in recent decades. This volume brings together leading authorities to review the state of the science and identify key directions for research and clinical practice. Concise, focused chapters illuminate how biological and psychosocial factors influence the etiology and epidemiology of substance use disorders in women; their clinical presentation, course, and psychiatric comorbidities; treatment access; and treatment effectiveness. Prevalent substances of abuse are examined, as are issues facing special populations.

Author: Judith Grisel
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0525434909
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From a renowned behavioral neuroscientist and recovering addict, a rare page-turning work of science that draws on personal insights to reveal how drugs work, the dangerous hold they can take on the brain, and the surprising way to combat today's epidemic of addiction. Judith Grisel was a daily drug user and college dropout when she began to consider that her addiction might have a cure, one that she herself could perhaps discover by studying the brain. Now, after twenty-five years as a neuroscientist, she shares what she and other scientists have learned about addiction, enriched by captivating glimpses of her personal journey. In Never Enough, Grisel reveals the unfortunate bottom line of all regular drug use: there is no such thing as a free lunch. All drugs act on the brain in a way that diminishes their enjoyable effects and creates unpleasant ones with repeated use. Yet they have their appeal, and Grisel draws on anecdotes both comic and tragic from her own days of using as she limns the science behind the love of various drugs, from marijuana to alcohol, opiates to psychedelics, speed to spice. With more than one in five people over the age of fourteen addicted, drug abuse has been called the most formidable health problem worldwide, and Grisel delves with compassion into the science of this scourge. She points to what is different about the brains of addicts even before they first pick up a drink or drug, highlights the changes that take place in the brain and behavior as a result of chronic using, and shares the surprising hidden gifts of personality that addiction can expose. She describes what drove her to addiction, what helped her recover, and her belief that a “cure” for addiction will not be found in our individual brains but in the way we interact with our communities. Set apart by its color, candor, and bell-clear writing, Never Enough is a revelatory look at the roles drugs play in all of our lives and offers crucial new insight into how we can solve the epidemic of abuse.