Finding Your Best Self
Revised Edition
Recovery from Addiction, Trauma, or Both
Lisa M. Najavits
Sign up for emails on upcoming titles by Lisa M. Najavits (with special discounts)!
The practical tools can be downloaded and printed in PDF format.
2. Starting out
3. “Things turn out okay”—David’s experience
4. It’s medical—you’re not crazy, lazy, or bad
5. How do people change?
6. The world is your school
7. Listen to your behavior
8. Wish versus reality
10. Possible selves
11. The language of trauma and addiction
12. Safe coping skills
13. Social pain
14. True self-compassion
15. Why trauma and addiction go together
16. Forgiving yourself
17. Body and biology
18. Getting to a calm place: The skill of ??grounding
19. The culture of silence
20. Motivation: Leverage one problem to help another
21. Tip the Scales recovery plan
22. Every child is a detective
23. How to survive a relapse
24. See the link
25. Practice
26. Identity: How you view yourself
27. Perception: How others view you
28. The decision to grow
29. Dark feelings: Rage, hatred, revenge, bitterness
30. Imagination
31. Create a healing image
32. Find a good counselor
33. Two types of trauma counseling
34. What the wounded can give back
35. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”
Appendix A. How others can help—family, friends, partners, sponsors, counselors
Appendix B. How to conduct Finding Your Best Self as a counseling or peer model
Appendix C. Resources
Appendix D. Excessive Behavior Scale
Appendix E. Brief quiz on trauma and addiction: Knowledge is power