Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How to Recognize Addicts and Avoid Financial Abuse

This is possibly the most comprehensive book on alcohol and other drug addiction ever written. It is the first to explain how to identify the problem in the earliest stages, before tragedy occurs. Most readers cannot put the book down; they depict it as a ¡§page turner,¡¨ a description rarely used in regards to non-fiction work. You will discover:

(1) Alcoholism is a biological disorder, based in ancestry. It¡¦s inception has nothing to do with one¡¦s environment, circumstances or psychological type. These determine instead, the form that addiction takes.
(2) Why the addict is incapable of self-diagnosis. AA¡¦s ¡§20 questions¡¨ for the addict are converted to 60+ questions for the observer/close person. These questions are largely behavioral.
(3) Because no one can predict when or how destructive the behavior of a practicing addict may become, others need to disengage at the earliest possible moment. How to do so.
(4) Addiction mimics virtually all the Personality Disorders and mental illnesses. Most diagnosed with these problems are, in fact, addicts.
(5) Why pain from consequences is the only means by which to set the stage for intervention. The missing link in intervention.
(6) Via numerous stories, that close persons are in a far better position to identify the problem than are therapists and doctors.
(7) How to protect oneself, personally and professionally, from the financial and other problems that relationships with addicts create.
(8) How the media misinforms keeping the public ignorant about addiction. Numerous news reports and movies are described. The greatest movies about alcoholism have rarely been identified as such.
(9) The role of Psychological Type and Temperament in identifying and treating addiction.
(10) How to recover from the ordeal of having been negatively affected by a alcohol or other drug addict.

A personal experience precipipated the acquisition of knowledge that led to the writing of this book. I am very grateful for the alcoholic/addict who made it possible, although at the time, it was a harrowing ordeal.

My story, briefly is this: I was engaged to a woman who, unbeknownst to me, was a practicing alcohol and other drug addict. When I exited the relationship, I decided I never wanted to go through anything like it again. To keep this promise, I decided to learn everything I could about addiction.

I attended scores of AA meetings, interviewed numerous recovering addicts and began reading dozens of books on the subject. The more I learned, the more fascinating this topic became. I began using this knowledge in a unique way, enhancing both my personal and professional lives. Single and in the dating world, I was able to protect myself from becoming romantically involved with another addict. In my life as an Enrolled Agent (tax professional) and Certified Financial Planner, I began identifying situations where addiction was adversely affecting clients. I repeatedly tested hypotheses that various people might be addicts, based on behavior patterns. When I suggested the possibility of addiction in a partner, debtor, tenant, significant person or other family member, the response was invariably, "No, I’ve known that person for 20 years. He’s no addict!" A week or a month later, I’d usually hear back from my client saying that I had been right.

What I had discovered was amazingly simple. We know that addiction causes bizarre, unethical, criminal and/or psychopathological behaviors. I had reversed this idea: when there were repeated instances of such misbehaviors (financial and otherwise), I usually found substance addiction. When I was able to replicate my experience dozens of times, I realized that I had a book idea. If others benefit from reading this, even a fraction as much as I did during the research and writing, it will have been well worth the effort.

I am now married to a lovely lady, Marty, whose only compulsion is staying fit. This is a wonderful problem. We live in Northridge, California, own three cats (or do I have this backwards?) and enjoy water and snow skiing.