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Cravings and Addictions: Free Yourself from the Struggle of Addictive Behavior with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
A powerful, evidence-based program grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for managing cravings related to addictions and taking charge of your life.
Whether you struggle with overeating, alcohol, drugs, or smoking, you’re all too familiar with the cravings that propel your habit. Cravings—that intense desire for certain substances or behaviors with the aim of feeling pleasure and satisfaction—are the root of all addictive behaviors. Knowing what to do with those urges can make the difference between managing your addiction and giving into it. This book can help.
Cravings and Addictions presents practical strategies based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you cope with the cravings at the core of your addiction. You’ll learn to recognize the cues that lead to addictive behaviors, and discover how you can move beyond addiction to commit to a life driven by what you care about and want in life. If you’re ready to stop living life at the mercy of your cravings and addiction, let this book be your guide to regaining control.
Accept, Choose, and Take Action to Manage Your Cravings—and Take Back Control of Your Life!
Accept that cravings are a normal part of everyday life, just like other thoughts and feelings.Choose to surrender to the craving—or choose to engage in actions aligned with your goals and values.Take action to change your life for the better—and develop a sense of meaning, purpose, and vitality.
Whether you struggle with overeating, alcohol, drugs, or smoking, you’re all too familiar with the cravings that propel your habit. Cravings—that intense desire for certain substances or behaviors with the aim of feeling pleasure and satisfaction—are the root of all addictive behaviors. Knowing what to do with those urges can make the difference between managing your addiction and giving into it. This book can help.
Cravings and Addictions presents practical strategies based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you cope with the cravings at the core of your addiction. You’ll learn to recognize the cues that lead to addictive behaviors, and discover how you can move beyond addiction to commit to a life driven by what you care about and want in life. If you’re ready to stop living life at the mercy of your cravings and addiction, let this book be your guide to regaining control.
Accept, Choose, and Take Action to Manage Your Cravings—and Take Back Control of Your Life!
Accept that cravings are a normal part of everyday life, just like other thoughts and feelings.Choose to surrender to the craving—or choose to engage in actions aligned with your goals and values.Take action to change your life for the better—and develop a sense of meaning, purpose, and vitality.
- GenresAddiction
208 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 2, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 6, 2021
Overall, a nice addition to the growing ACT collection of books. This book shows you techniques on how to overcome your cravings to help with your addictions.
Good points:
- The exercises are really great, loved the "Writing Your New Values-based Living Story" one - the book has a good collection of exercises from different books and they are written quite concisely
- The book is quite short and easy to read compared to others
- Each chapter had very good summaries, and choice moment diagrams
- You follow stories of some of Maria's and Megan's clients throughout the book, and at the end see how they have got on with their journey
Not so great:
- The book came across quite serious, other ACT books felt like they had a bit more personality and humour to them
-
This book can be really helpful and life-changing for those who want to make progress in overcoming their addictions & cravings.
Good points:
- The exercises are really great, loved the "Writing Your New Values-based Living Story" one - the book has a good collection of exercises from different books and they are written quite concisely
- The book is quite short and easy to read compared to others
- Each chapter had very good summaries, and choice moment diagrams
- You follow stories of some of Maria's and Megan's clients throughout the book, and at the end see how they have got on with their journey
Not so great:
- The book came across quite serious, other ACT books felt like they had a bit more personality and humour to them
-
This book can be really helpful and life-changing for those who want to make progress in overcoming their addictions & cravings.
December 30, 2021
This book is an excellent starting point for working on #CravingsandAddictions. ACT was not a therapy I was familiar with, but I'm very happy to have read it. I believe everyone could use a little help, if not with addictions, at least with cravings. I enjoyed learning about how to cope, and the free tools you can download from #NewHarbinger compliment the book wonderfully. Thank you to New Harbinger and NetGalley for the chance to read this in return for an honest review.
February 15, 2022
Good self-help book on how to use Acceptance and Committment Therapy (ACT) for coping with cravings and addictions. Therapists and counselors working with ACT can also use this book for working with their clients.
The chapters are relatively short and the exercises can be implemented easily (to my mind).
I especially like the inclusion of self-compassion, which is not one of the core processes of ACT but really adds to working with addictions and cravings.
The chapters are relatively short and the exercises can be implemented easily (to my mind).
I especially like the inclusion of self-compassion, which is not one of the core processes of ACT but really adds to working with addictions and cravings.
March 18, 2022
I’m not familiar at all with this type of therapy so this was a really interesting read for me.
Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.
Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.
August 10, 2022
It is mostly common sense. Lots of repetition of the key ideas.
November 15, 2023
Lots of great tips in this book that are helpful.
February 17, 2025
Book was helpful for tips and interventions for working with clients with addictions and substance abuse disorders. It also was a lot of things a heard before and wasn’t my favorite.
November 17, 2025
This was listened to as an audiobook but again, didn’t take away much despite being easy to listen to.
September 20, 2023
Really insightful book and I found it just resonated with me, so well.
To summarize, ACT: is the therapy modality this book is based on, which is an acronym for:
ACCEPT that cravings, triggers, you can substitute any 'negative' thought or emotion here, it's a normal part of life.
CHOOSE: to manage the cravings. you can choose your reaction and thereby your action.
TAKE the actions that will change your life for the better.
To clarify:
Cravings are intense desires for using or consuming substances with the goal of feeling pleasure and satisfaction. It could perhaps also be for experiences/ posessions, people??
Cravings can be physical, habitual, social, or emotional.
The 4 major reasons addictions are so hard to break:
- fear that we will fail at managing the cravings.
- feara tht we cannot handle the craving, if we give up the substance and the craving arises.
- We just don't know how to give it up.
- We associate our identity with the craving itself. we are someone who craves ____.
ask yourself: am I now living in accordance with my values? Am I acting on my values?
Values can help us begin to change our behaviours, effectively and lastingly.
You always have a choice as to whether you give in to the cravings: they do not have to control you.
I love the sky exercise~!
The next time you feel overwhelmed, by anything: a craving,a thought, a feeling: come back to the black sky and remember who you are.
You are always greater than anythingyou feel, think, or sense.
To summarize, ACT: is the therapy modality this book is based on, which is an acronym for:
ACCEPT that cravings, triggers, you can substitute any 'negative' thought or emotion here, it's a normal part of life.
CHOOSE: to manage the cravings. you can choose your reaction and thereby your action.
TAKE the actions that will change your life for the better.
To clarify:
Cravings are intense desires for using or consuming substances with the goal of feeling pleasure and satisfaction. It could perhaps also be for experiences/ posessions, people??
Cravings can be physical, habitual, social, or emotional.
The 4 major reasons addictions are so hard to break:
- fear that we will fail at managing the cravings.
- feara tht we cannot handle the craving, if we give up the substance and the craving arises.
- We just don't know how to give it up.
- We associate our identity with the craving itself. we are someone who craves ____.
ask yourself: am I now living in accordance with my values? Am I acting on my values?
Values can help us begin to change our behaviours, effectively and lastingly.
You always have a choice as to whether you give in to the cravings: they do not have to control you.
I love the sky exercise~!
The next time you feel overwhelmed, by anything: a craving,a thought, a feeling: come back to the black sky and remember who you are.
You are always greater than anythingyou feel, think, or sense.
November 18, 2021
The books show techniques to overcome the cravings that lead to addictions. It has several exercises to fulfill to gain confidence in oneself. It is a good start to look for help in the addictions problem.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews