Category: Non-Fiction

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“Her fur was a mess. The long guard hairs were broken or missing, the undercoat was wooly and matted, and she had bald spots revealing flaky, black skin. Bärle’s facial muscles had atrophied, giving her a sunken, weary appearance befitting an abused, neglected bear. She looked older than her nineteen years—not unusual for a mistreated animal—yet a cublike innocence, a simple sweetness, and, oddly enough, trust shone through her eyes and expressions.”
–from BÄRLE’S STORY

In 2001, the Mexican Suarez Brothers Circus came to Puerto Rico amid protests from organizations like PeTA and the USDA, who argued that bringing in seven polar bears to perform in tropical weather was potentially life-threatening and inhumane. One of the original seven polar bears was rescued at gunpoint and flown to the US. The rest were saved in 2002 by the US Fish and Wildlife Service after the circus, prevented from traveling by the US government, abandoned the bears with little food and water.

The Detroit Zoo was fortunate to welcome one of the rescued bears, a friendly adult female named Bärle. In a new memoir, BÄRLE’S STORY: One Polar Bear’s Amazing Recovery from Life as a Circus Act (Greystone Books; June 2014; $17.95), animal behavior specialist Else Poulsen shares Bärle’s struggles and triumphs as she mentally and physically recovers from the trauma she suffered as human entertainment.

Born in the Canadian arctic in 1980s, Bärle’s existence is virtually unknown until her arrival at the Suarez Brothers Circus. It is speculated that her mother was killed and Bärle was sold as a cub by poachers to a German contractor, who then sold her to the circus. She was held in a small, unclean cage with scarce room to lie down; given days-old lettuce and dog food; and was consistently battered while performing tricks for circus-goers in the extreme Caribbean heat. Polar bears can easily overheat and die. Wild bears in the arctic tundra can perish if the temperature is above -4°F, and will dive into the frigid water to cool off.

Along with Bärle’s recovery process at the Detroit Zoo, where she became accustomed to living with other polar bears and slowly forget her circus act past, Poulsen gives readers well-researched details on the history of the polar bear, a species that has been on this planet for almost 5 million years. She passionately talks about the problems of poaching and illegal trade of polar bear pelts across the world in locales such as China, where a Canadian polar bear pelt can sell for $80,000.

BÄRLE’S STORY is a moving portrait of a remarkable bear and Poulsen’s tireless efforts to help her rediscover her true polar bear ways. Poulsen also imparts an urgent call to action for people to learn about the arctic, climate change, animal welfare, and conservation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Else Poulsen is an award-winning animal behavior specialist with a concentration on the behavior of captive bears, and has worked in Detroit and Calgary as a zookeeper and manager. Since 2007, Poulsen has been the president and co-founder of the Bear Care Group, an international non-profit organization that creates communication, cooperation and education among international bear care professionals. She has worked with the Bear Care Group all over the world, including Detroit, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, China, and Mexico as a consultant for zoos, sanctuaries, and bear rehabilitation facilities

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PAINKILLERS, HEROIN, AND THE ROAD TO SANITY
Real Solutions for Long-Term Recovery from Opiate Addiction
By Joani Gammill
Author of The Interventionist

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, the total number of prescriptions for opiate pain relievers in the United States jumped from 76 million in 1991 to 210 million in 2010. And Americans are more likely to die from an overdose of medication than to die on the highway. These astounding facts along with real-life solutions to the nation’s painkiller abuse epidemic can be found in the first book ever to address this problem from the inside out:

PAINKILLERS, HEROIN, AND THE ROAD TO SANITY: Real Solutions for Long-Term Recovery from Opiate Addiction (Hazelden; May 2014; $14.95; Original Trade Paperback) by Joani Gammill, author of The Interventionist. Joani Gammill, a recovering alcoholic, was struggling with a back injury and the pain it caused. After surgery, she was prescribed a cornucopia of opiate-based drugs including Oxycontin, which her doctor said was a nonaddictive painkiller used especially for recovering addicts (information that came straight from the drug company). She got hooked and ten years later, with the help of Dr. Phil, who performed and televised her intervention, Gammill found sobriety again, this time from alcohol and opiates. She has gone on to a successful career as a professional interventionist who helps everyone from celebrities to executives to moms get into treatment.

Through her work as well as her own experiences, Gammill is highly educated on the subject of painkillers, and in PAINKILLERS, HEROIN, AND THE ROAD TO SANITY she shares some eye-opening facts:

• Americans make up 5 percent of the world population, yet we consume over 90 percent of the opiates worldwide.

• According to Erin Marie Daly of the blog Oxy Watchdog, “Florida’s crackdown on pill mills has dried up the supply of pills to much of the East Coast, with the unintended consequence of fueling heroin abuse.”

• Ocean County, New Jersey, supplies much of the heroin to the East Coast due to its centralized location near Philadelphia and New York City, as well as its extensive coastline and thriving tourist business, which make it easy for drug dealers to hide.

• Women who have experienced sexual abuse and suffer from PTSD as a result are most likely to develop an addiction to opiates and cocaine.

• Treatment for opiate addictions typically requires more than one twenty-eight-day stay in a treatment center.

• The rate of relapse from opiate addiction is among the highest when compared to other addictive substances.

Gammill eloquently describes the problems that prevent doctors and the authorities from stopping the abuse. She also recommends some solutions that include proper use of antidepressants and other nonopioid-based drugs to control pain. For people who have crossed the line into addiction she suggests intervention; residential treatment; Twelve Step and cognitive-behavioral therapy programs; healthcare system overhauls that make it possible for people with and without financial means to get help; and education. In fact, with the right curriculum, education may be the most important in that it is a preventative measure that can begin as early as elementary school.

Understanding what opiate addiction is as well as turning to alternative therapies for pain relief in the first place can help prevent a problem that is so much harder to fix after the brain becomes hardwired to crave opiate medications and heroin. PAINKILLERS, HEROIN, AND THE ROAD TO SANITY will show why and how this problem has ballooned and how if we address it on several levels—federal and judicial, medical, and individual—we will change the statistics and save thousands of lives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Joani Gammill, RN, has appeared regularly on Dr. Phil, where she has led interventions that have inspired millions of viewers. Before her career as an interventionist, she worked as a registered nurse in medical facilities, including a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. She is also the author of The Interventionist (Hazelden, 2011).

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Shame is an emotion that can be buried in a person’s psyche so deep that one does not realize how much he is affected by it. From the publisher that popularized the topics of shame and codependency with such publications as Brené Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection and Melody Beattie’s Codependent No More, Hazelden Publishing releases CONQUERING SHAME AND CODEPENDENCY: 8 Steps to Freeing the True You (Hazelden Publishing; July 2014; $14.95), by nationally recognized author, codependency expert, and family therapist Darlene Lancer. This essential guide explores the powerful emotion of shame and what can happen if it is not addressed. The author then provides practical therapeutic advice on how to break deep-rooted patterns.

Lancer’s book begins by explaining the difference between guilt and shame: “Guilt results from violating rules or moral precepts, while shame emanates from breaching accepted group norms. We’re guilty if we do something bad. With shame, we believe that we ourselves are bad or inadequate in some way.” Understanding these definitions shows how incredibly deep and profound feelings of shame can be, and as a result, how difficult it can be to change how you feel about yourself.

She then delves into the link between shame and codependency, explaining how they prevent us from living life as our “true selves.” As the result of a combination of personality, parenting, and life experience, we may develop an “inner critic” who is constantly questioning our motives and putting us down for our actions. We become victims of our own negativity, which then leads to codependency, the disease of a lost self where one organizes his or her thinking and behavior around another person, process, or substance. Before we know it we may be engaged in abusive or inappropriate relationships. For example, we may be working in a career we felt we “had” to take on in order to please a parent. We may be living as if we were someone else, unable to make our own decisions out of fear of hurtful repercussions left over from living with an abusive partner.  These and other similar situations can cause us to spiral downward into an unhealthy state, experiencing severe anxiety or depression, substance abuse, or other serious issues.

In CONQUERING SHAME AND CODEPENDENCY Lancer outlines eight steps that will help you develop more healthy attitudes about yourself:

1. Find Your True Self
2. Uncover Your Shame
3. Find Your Shame’s Roots
4. Disarm Your Shame
5. Confront Your Shame
6. Share Your Shame
7. Build Your Self-Esteem
8. Love Yourself

By working through these steps you will be able to better identify and understand the root source of negative feelings and what course of action to take in order to let them go and free yourself to live your life. Drawing on 30 years of experience as a therapist, Lancer has made an immense contribution by writing CONQUERING SHAME AND CODEPENDENCY. For anyone who has been in therapy or has never knocked on a doctor’s door, this book will break down a wall and open an entirely new path to a true and authentic life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Darlene Lancer, JD, LMFT, is a licensed family therapist with over 30 years of experience working with individuals and couples. She regularly lectures on self-esteem, codependency, and addiction. Author of Codependency for Dummies and 10 Steps to Self-Esteem, she has also published numerous articles.

ABOUT THE HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION:
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. It is the nation’s largest nonprofit treatment provider, with a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center. With 15 sites in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Colorado and Texas, the Foundation offers recovery solutions nationwide and across the entire continuum of care for youth and adults. It includes the largest recovery publishing house in the country, a fully-accredited graduate school of addiction studies, an addiction research center, an education arm for medical professionals, and a unique children’s program, and is the nation’s leader in advocacy and policy for treatment and recovery. Learn more at hazeldenbettyford.org.

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“I was mystified about what went on in these meetings. I also was, I hate to say, a little paranoid and even jealous about all the time my boyfriend spent at them. What went on? Why were these damn Steps so important?”
—from Girlfriend of Bill

A new romance can be exciting, but if you are dating someone in a recovery program such as Alcoholics Anonymous, you may find there’s more to the relationship than just shared interests and mutual attraction. Your new beau may suffer from anxiety, mood swings, or other issues that stem from the way his addictive brain causes him to think and behave. You may also experience feelings of jealousy as your significant other spends significant time with his sponsor or recovery group—instead of with you.

Here to support you is a new, first-of-its-kind guide entitled GIRLFRIEND OF BILL: 12 Things You Need to Know about Dating Someone in Recovery by Karen Nagy. In her book, Nagy shares her personal experiences dating a man in recovery, wisdom from the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Step programs, and stories and advice from her friends to offer twelve practical tips that will help you understand your recovering partner on a deeper level.

Filled with humor and compassion, GIRLFRIEND OF BILL offers valuable information about how a recovering person’s past, along with certain “addict-like” personality traits, can affect both individuals in the relationship:

“Manipulation means being talked into something you don’t want to do. For example, my PIR (Person in Recovery) convinced me to loan him a significant amount of money. Twice. My friend Grace was convinced by her PIR husband Joe that they had to move back and forth between several different states during the ten years of their marriage. She later found out it was because Joe was trying to get out of paying years of child support he owed.”

Nagy explains how to identify whether you are developing any codependency issues, what to do about them, and how to create healthy boundaries to ensure your own well-being. On the lighter side, she provides some creative ideas for fun sober dates.

Throughout GIRLFRIEND OF BILL, Nagy combines lighthearted insights and cautionary red flags, along with advice about how to handle them, that will make a tremendous difference in the health, enjoyment, and longevity of your relationship.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Karen Nagy is a college professor, actor, and songwriter. She wrote GIRLFRIEND OF BILL, her first book, based on her own dating experience and love of the Twelve Steps.

ABOUT HAZELDEN:
Hazelden Publishing is part of the Hazelden Foundation, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1949 that helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. With over 60 years of knowledge and experience, Hazelden offers a comprehensive approach to addiction that addresses the full range of patient, family, and professional needs, including treatment and continuing care for youths and adults, research, higher education, public education and advocacy, and publishing. Hazelden has facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida, and New York