Russell has a firm grasp on the 12 steps, a relatable life story and an outlook on life I enjoy hearing.

Russell Brand | Official Website Russell Brand | Official Website

This is where I open myself up for criticism. I accept that the 12 step program does help many. I know a few people who are clean and sober exclusively due to it. I also know many more who have tried it and it has not worked. Even Russell talks about it as a cult. A helpful cult to many but one that has its own ingrained problems. It is not the only way to maintain sobriety.Yes, Russell emphasizes the importance of a spiritual dimension in the recovery process, guiding individuals through their journey. This manual for self-realization comes not from a mountain but from the mud.... My qualification is not that I am better than you but I am worse." (Russell Brand) As I write this review I am 600 days sober (I didn't know the exact number before starting this review. It just worked out well.) Admittedly, Brand’s choice of words is a bit more colorful than most people are comfortable with, but they do cut to the heart of the program. In his book, he urges readers to make their recovery more personal by putting the Steps into whatever words make the most sense to them. An Example of the 12 Steps in Action

Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions by Russell Brand

It was awful – hot and cold, nausea, and, worst of all, I remained horrifically awake all weekend. The best thing about heroin is it turns your life into a waking dream, but then, when I needed it most, my mistress sleep had deserted me.” ~ Russell Brand, discussing an early attempt to quit heroin When undergoing heroin detox, the worst of the physical withdrawal symptoms will manifest somewhere between 12 and 30 hours of the last usage and persist approximately 5 days. However, in cases of severe heroin addiction, withdrawal may last up to two weeks. Although it is not especially dangerous to quit heroin, the discomfort of withdrawal causes up to 80% of heroin addicts to relapse within the first year.I am not writing this book because I think I’m better than you. I know I’m worse… My qualification is that I am more addicted, more narcissistic, more driven by lust and the need for power and recognition.” ~ Russell Brand Brand’s childhood and adolescence stand out as a virtual “how-to” of trauma: Brand doesn't give us anything new here other than his own experience and testimony of the 12-Step program, but he does it with more insight, expanding the concept of *Higher Power* with wisdom and his own comedic touch. He applies the 12-steps to a wide variety of the obstacles that might be keeping us from being the person we are meant to be (drugs, alcohol, food, anger, selfishness, depression, etc.). Rather than just educating myself, I came away with a desire to improve myself and be a little more at peace in my environment, and a little enlightenment. Some clinicians argue against the 12 Step program concerned that a participant would only be replacing one addiction with another...I think Brand gives an eloquent argument against that opinion. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. But it’s also human to believe in something greater within, and this is one of the many ways to find that.