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Recommended Books
"Seven Pillars of Freedom" by Dr. Ted Roberts
The 7 Pillars workbook is a 10 month, weekly study designed to bring healing and freedom from unwanted and destructive sexual behaviors. The instructions and exercises in the 7 pillars workbook create a structure for freedom from unwanted sexual behaviors and provide the biblical truth necessary to build a healthy foundation.
"Facing The Shadows" by Patrick Carnes, Ph. D
For all addicts, a moment comes when they realize they have a problem. There is sudden claritythe insight that life has become unmanageable. That moment, however, is fragile. It is easily lost to craving and denial. People struggling with sex addiction find the old refrains creeping back into their thinking: My situation is different. . . . This will all blow over. . . . People are over-reacting to my behavior. Or, This is hopeless. I'm just too perverted to change.
"An Emotionally Focused Workbook For Couples" by Veronica Kallos-Lilly & Jennifer Fitzgerald
The second edition of this essential and newly updated workbook is intended for use with couples who want to enhance their emotional connection or overcome their relationship distress. It closely follows the course of EFT treatment and allows clinicians to easily integrate guided reading, reflection, and discussion into the therapeutic process.
"Recovery Rules" by Mark Denison
Thousands of books have been written on recovery. But nothing does what this book does. In Recovery Rules, Mark Denison lays out 100 very simple, profound, and memorable truisms that work for recovery from any kind of addiction. These pithy statements will frequently illicit an "aha moment" as the reader's eyes are opened to comprehend an important truth for the first time. Others will confirm what people in recovery have learned, often the hard way.
"Full Disclosure" by Dan Drake and Janice Caudill
Have your secret sexual behaviors recently been discovered? Are you stuck in knowing what to share, how much to share, and how to not traumatize your partner with too many gory details about your past? Has your therapist asked you to do a "Formal Disclosure" but you have no idea how to do that? Do you want to begin a life of honesty, integrity, and transparency? If any of those questions apply, this workbook is for you.
"90-Day Recovery Guide" by Mark Denison
If you're caught in the endless cycle of lust and addiction, "90-Day Recovery Guide for Sex and Porn Addiction" can provide a jump start on your road to recovery. Working through this guide will provide a lift each day and allow you to build a solid foundation for lasting health.
Mark Dennison was a pastor for 30 years. His family and the church were crucial for him. However, for the entire time, 30 years, he also had a secret life. He was addicted to sex and porn. He wanted to stop and did stop at least a hundred times, but he couldn't quit. It was killing him, threatening his marriage, and ultimately cost his position as a pastor.
"Life Recovery Plan" by Mark Denison
This 52-week workbook is built around 52 topics that are central to any solid recovery. With each weekly topic there are seven readings and one compelling exercise.
Dr. Denison combines the training he has received with a Master's Degree in recovery and as a certified PSAP (Pastoral Sex Addiction Professional) along with several years of his own personal recovery to produce a plan that has been tested and found to work. The principles revealed in this book have produced a 90% success rate of sobriety for his clients.
"Out of The Shadows" by Patrick Carnes
Sex is at the core of our identities. And when it becomes a compulsion, it can unravel our lives. Out of the Shadows is the premier work on this disorder, written by a pioneer in its treatment. Revised and updated to include the latest research--and to address the exploding phenomenon of cybersex addiction--this third edition identifies the danger signs, explains the dynamics, and describes the consequences of sexual addiction and dependency. With practical wisdom and spiritual clarity, it points the way out of the shadows of sexual compulsion and back into the light and fullness of life.
"Treating Sexual Addiction" by Dr. Kevin B. Skinner
Many individuals are struggling to make sense of their unwanted sexual behaviors. In Treating Sexual Addiction: A Compassionate Approach to Recovery, Dr. Kevin Skinner begins by defining what sex addiction is and what it is not. Then, using the recovery capital model to explain what successful people do in recovery, the author provides suggestions and solutions on how to increase your recovery capital. Learn how to overcome common barriers to recovery such as loneliness, low self-worth, and stress. You will learn how self-compassion can help you overcome shame, a common barrier to recovery. Finally, recovery is not complete without learning how to be effective in relationships.
"Altogether You" by Jenna Riemersma
Therapist and speaker Jenna Riemersma applies the groundbreaking insights of Internal Family Systems (IFS) for anyone who feels stuck in unwanted feelings and behaviors, with a special focus on personal transformation for listeners of faith. In Altogether You, she explains why our parts are so often at war-parts of us wanting to please others and do things right while other parts seem bent on acting out, shutting down, or engaging in hurtful behaviors. Jenna explores the surprising IFS insight that our warring parts are actually trying to help us, even when what they're doing or feeling is not helpful. By genuinely welcoming all our parts and learning how to access our God-created core self, we can finally experience the change, integration, and wholeness we've been looking for.
"The Soul of Shame" by Curt Thompson
We're all infected with a spiritual disease. Its name is shame.
Whether we realize it or not, shame affects every aspect of our personal lives and vocational endeavors. It seeks to destroy our identity in Christ, replacing it with a damaged version of ourselves that results in unhealed pain and brokenness. But God is telling a different story for your life.
Psychiatrist Curt Thompson unpacks the soul of shame, revealing its ubiquitous nature and neurobiological roots. He also provides the theological and practical tools necessary to dismantle shame, based on years of researching its damaging effects and counseling people to overcome those wounds.
"The Soul of Desire" by Curt Thompson
We are people of desire.
In The Soul of Desire, psychiatrist Curt Thompson suggests that underneath all our longings is the desire to be known―and what's more, that this fundamental yearning manifests itself in our deep need to make things of beauty, revealing who we are to others. Desire and beauty go hand in hand.
But both our craving to be known and our ability to create beauty have been marred by trauma and shame, collapsing our imagination for what God has for us and blinding us to the possibility that beauty could ever emerge from our ashes.
"Anatomy of The Soul" by Curt Thompson
Do you want to improve your relationships and experience lasting personal change? Join Curt Thompson, M.D., on an amazing journey to discover the surprising pathways for transformation hidden inside your own mind. Integrating new findings in neuroscience and attachment with Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson reveals how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Explaining discoveries about the brain in layman’s terms, he shows how you can be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people. He also provides practical exercises to help you experience healing in areas where you’ve been struggling. Insightful and challenging, Anatomy of the Soul illustrates how learning about one of God’s most miraculous creations―your brain―can enrich your life, your relationships, and your impact on the world around you.
"Trauma and the 12 Steps" by Jamie Marich & Stephen Dansiger
Each page of this book is designed to help you engage in practice that will hopefully translate into your life. Every day, you are presented with an inspirational quote from people who have deeply influenced Jamie and Steve, a trauma-informed reflection, a simple 3-5 minute meditation or expressive arts practice, and a prayer or intention. This reader is appropriate for people on all paths of recovery, however you may define recovery at this moment in your life. Whether its alcohol, drugs, codependency, food, shopping, problematic sexual acting out, compulsive Internet use, or other trauma-based dissociation that keeps you stuck, may you find ideas for
helping you to engage more fully with the present day.
"Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents" by Lindsay C. Gibson
If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, or abandonment. You may recall your childhood as a time when your emotional needs were not met, when your feelings were dismissed, or when you took on adult levels of responsibility in an effort to compensate for your parent’s behavior. These wounds can be healed, and you can move forward in your life.
In this breakthrough book, clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable. You will see how these parents create a sense of neglect, and discover ways to heal from the pain and confusion caused by your childhood. By freeing yourself from your parents’ emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react to them, and avoid disappointment. Finally, you’ll learn how to create positive, new relationships so you can build a better life.
"It Didn't Start With You" by Mark Wolynn
Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling: the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate life experience or in chemical imbalances in our brains—but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited—that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations. It Didn’t Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died, or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood. Read more
"The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
"Hold Me Tight" by Dr. Sue Johnson
Are you looking to enrich a healthy relationship, revitalize a tired one, or rescue one gone awry? We all want a lifetime of love, support, and companionship. But sometimes we need a little help.
Enter Dr. Sue Johnson, developer of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and “the most original contributor to couple’s therapy to come along in the last thirty years,” according to Dr. William J. Doherty, PhD. In Hold Me Tight, Dr. Johnson shares her groundbreaking and remarkably successful program for creating stronger, more secure relationships.