The Emotionally Focused Therapy Workbook for Addiction: How to Heal the Loneliness and Shame That Trigger Addictive Behaviors

Heal the pain at the root of your addiction with this comprehensive, evidence-based workbook.

If you struggle with substance abuse, you may have intense feelings of loneliness, isolation, and disconnection. You may feel uncomfortable asking others for help. And when faced with difficult emotions, it’s easy to fall into the habit of numbing and avoiding emotional pain with drugs and alcohol, which can leave you feeling even more shame and despair. So, how do you break this cycle and create real connections that will reward you with relief, belonging, and a sense of safety?

The skills and exercises in this user-friendly workbook are based in proven-effective emotionally focused therapy (EFT)--an innovative approach for transforming the pain of addiction into a sense of love, community, and connection. Step by step, you’ll build a solid foundation of self-compassion to help you heal from the underlying causes that drove you to self-medicate in the first place. Instead of turning to drugs and alcohol to dull the pain at the core of your addiction, you’ll discover how to develop a safety net of life-affirming relationships to protect and support you.

As you work through the exercises, you’ll gain essential skills to manage your emotions and form meaningful connections with others. The more emotionally fluent you become, the more you’ll learn to rely on your support network in times of distress--and the less likely you’ll be to reach for substances. As you remove the obstacles that block healthy connection to others, you’ll begin to resolve the pain buried deep within, and replace your addiction with a reliable, caring connection with others--and with yourself!

If you’re done searching for emotional relief in drugs and alcohol, let this friendly guide point you on the path to true recovery and belonging. Go ahead, take the first step.

Michael Barnett, LPCC, is a certified trainer in emotionally focused therapy (EFT) who has added to the canon of EFT training through helping clinicians work more effectively with trauma and addiction through the EFT lens. Barnett specializes in the use of humanistic/experiential, attachment-based therapy to transform clients’ relationship with their addictive processes. He is codirector of the Emotionally Focused Therapy Center of Los Angeles, and founder of the Atlanta Community for Emotionally Focused Therapy.