Beat the Booze

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Reclaim your life

Beat The Booze is an inspirational, easy to read and highly practical book aimed at those who wish to cut down or cut out alcohol and at those who wish to help someone else who has a drink problem.

It can help both problem drinkers and individuals who wish to reduce their alcohol intake simply for lifestyle reasons, and contains all the assistance the authors could find from interviewing leading experts in the field of alcohol addiction and case studies who have successfully cut down their drinking or given up alcohol altogether.

It includes many new and previously little publicised sources of help, and the Appendix contains contact details for a vast range of organisations that can provide professional help and further information.

The authors have also been able to draw on extensive personal experience in battling alcohol. One used to have a serious drink problem, the other gave up for lifestyle reasons.

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Contents

PART I - HELPING YOURSELF

Chapter 1: Forget the word alcoholic

Chapter 2: Who said drinking alcohol was cool?

Chapter 3: Giving up alcohol completely

Chapter 4: Cutting down

Chapter 5: Getting professional help


PART II - HELPING OTHERS

Chapter 6: Helping adults

Chapter 7: Helping the young

Chapter 8: If only...

Chapter 9: Helping employees

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 - More detailed medical information

Appendix 2 - Recent statistics

Appendix 3 - Sources of help and contact details

About the authors

Edmund Tirbutt has been teetotal for over 21 years, after drinking heavily during his years at university and subsequently finding it difficult to drink in moderation in his 20s. He tried various methods of cutting down and introduced rules to reduce his alcohol intake, including only drinking at weekends or when on holiday. Neither of these approaches worked as he always ended up drinking to excess. His decision to quit was determined by the intervention of a friend - when he was 28 years old - who told him he would end up sad and alone and, most probably, soon dead if he did not quit the booze, which he then did almost immediately. Since then his life has changed beyond recognition. He fulfilled his ambition to become a journalist on the national papers, and during the final seven years of his journalistic career won a remarkable 18 awards for excellence. Helen Tirbutt has been teetotal for over two years, after deciding that life without alcohol is infinitely better than a life with it. She made the decision to quit drinking for lifestyle reasons. During her 20s and 30s Helen worked in the City in the area of PR and Communications, and alcohol was very much a part of that lifestyle in the boom-bust years of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s. After setting up a copywriting company with her husband Edmund in 2004, she made many changes to her life, including moving out of London, taking up meditation and introducing more healthy ways of dealing with work tension and stress. She quickly found that it is a total myth that you can't have a good time without alcohol, and realised that there are plenty of other healthier and more effective ways of dealing with the modern day worries that cause many people to drink.

More about Edmund Tirbutt and Helen Tirbutt

Reviews

Press:

"One of the most constructive, practical books on alcohol I've seen."
- Marilyn Warnick, Books Editor at The Mail on Sunday

Medical:

"This is a first-class publication that contains a wealth of practical information for patients, families and the general public alike. It is highly commendable."
- Professor Ian Gilmore, President, Royal College of Physicians

"This book is well informed and eminently readable - a first class production."
- Professor Griffith Edwards, Emeritus Professor of Addiction Behaviour, National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London

"As a primary care substance misuse specialist with many years experience of supporting problem drinkers in reassessing their lives and effecting change I can recommend Beat the Booze as a practical and pragmatic resource. It is structured and optimistic in style which reflects the way in which therapists and practitioners seek to work effectively with individuals. The open and evidence-based approach means the book can be recommended to practitioners and patients alike. I am pleased to add this title to my substance misuse library."
- Dr Linda Harris, Director, Royal College of General Practitioners Substance Misuse Unit

"Reads extremely well and is highly informative. In particular, it should do a lot to help those who are not yet severely dependent but who are starting to get that way."
- Dr Francis Keaney, Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist, National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London

"Ideal for anyone with an alcohol related problem, their family, friends or employer. A useful and informative read."
- Peter Smith, Head of Counselling, Broadway Lodge

"First class, in setting out why we have the problem and also the wider reactions of countries in Europe to our own country's self-induced ills. The book also provides real practical help to those who have succumbed in various ways to heavy drinking. How to beat it personally and the appropriate reactions of family and wider society are all very well set out."
- Professor Roger Williams, CBE, Director of the Institute of Hepatology, International Centre for Research into Liver Disorders

"This is a book that will help many who have a drink problem. Well written, interesting and well worth a read, even for those without a problem..."
- Professor Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health, Lancaster University

"This book sets out simply and comprehensively the strategies that people can adopt who feel that alcohol is taking over their lives. I regard it as essential reading for anyone who worries that they may have a drink problem and for people around them, including employers, who are faced with having to deal with the consequences of such problems."
- Professor Mike O'Donnell, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Medical Services, UNUM

"Beat the Booze is very easy to read and provides excellent information and advice to the reader, whether they are someone who wants to beat the booze or someone who wants to help others do so."
- Dr Olivia Carlton, former Registrar of Faculty of Occupational Medicine

"Beat the Booze is a must read for anyone in anyway connected with this illness. It is written in a clear and effective way and brings to life the real problems behind Alcoholism. Equally, it gives everyone hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel - you won't be able to put it down."
- Keith Burns, MD ADMIT Services Group, Rehab Referral Specialists