My Life as 3D: Guest Blog

I've written here many times that addiction is a disease that affects the entire family. Today's guest blogger takes that sentiment one step further, by relating how her son's addiction even affected the family dog.

Today's unique video guest blog comes from Anita Devlin, whose son, Michael, has been sober for more than four years. Anita and Michael are the co-authors of the book S.O.B.E.R.*: A Story of Addiction Told By a Mother and Her Son. (*S.O.B.E.R. stands for Son Of a Bitch--Everything's Real).

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NAPW: On S.O.B.E.R.*

From NAPW:

"While laying in an empty bathtub in a Motel 6 in Vermont, Mike takes a handful of OxyContin and waits for the heart palpitations to kill him. As he starts to fade he reads a text on his phone, “Son, I love you and I need to know that you’re OK.” Struggling to understand why anyone would care about him because of his years of drug abuse, he responds, “Mom, no one can help me.” Then, in a moment of clarity, he decides he wants there to be a tomorrow and to be a part of his family again. He makes the call for help to his mother; the call that saves his life. 

S.O.B.E.R.*, an acronym for "Son Of a Bitch Everything’s Real" describes the moment Anita Devlin and her son Mike realize that denying his addiction to pain pills is destroying him. It is the defining moment when they commit to the courageous fight to get their lives back. This is when their family’s road to recovery begins. S.O.B.E.R.* offers a rare glimpse at the daily, all consuming relationship between family and addiction, told simultaneously from a mother’s view and an addict’s perspective."

Keys To Recovery Newspaper: S.O.B.E.R. Book Review

S.O.B.E.R* : A story of addiction told by a Mother and her Son. Written by Anita Baglaneas and Michael Devlin Jr.

This book gets to the core of the disease of addiction andhow it affects the entire family and all must participate. I am alltoo familiar with this dynamic. My Mother and Myself are bothin recovery and I lost my brother to this disease. Anita givesus a deep and personal insight from the Mother’s view of thedevastating effects of dealing with a child and their addiction.We then get to see the addict’s perspective through Mike’sstruggle with drugs and his own recovery process from ad-diction. The combination of the two makes this book brilliant. Icouldn’t put it down. But through their own individual journey’sinto recovery, this book and the rawness that it portrays, of-fers us hope. Recovery from addiction can heal and put backtogether families that were never thought possible. If you oranyone you know that is affected, this is a must read. Thank you Anita and Mike for sharing your journey.