Laura Petracek is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience in the fields of psychology and social work, specialising in anger control issues and addiction recovery. She is the author of The Anger Workbook for Women and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA.
The connection between mental health challenges and addiction is strong, complicates recovery, and is regrettably still associated with much stigma. In The DBT Workbook for Alcohol and Drug Addiction, Dr. Petracek helps readers to understand their struggles with mental illness and addiction, and to address those struggles through a combination of AA/NA and DBT skills. Drawing on her own personal experience, Petracek's warmth and compassion will make these ideas and skills more approachable for those in recovery and will remind people that they are not alone on their difficult journey. -- Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, RSW, Psychotherapist, international speaker, and author of several DBT books, including The DBT Workbook for Emotional Relief Dr. Petracek provides a step-by-step guide to DBT for anyone struggling with alcohol or drug addiction. This book is accessible, comprehensive and practical. A truly valuable resource! -- Elaine Beale, author of Write for Wellness: Write Your Way to Health, Happiness and Healing Laura Petracek, Ph.D.'s work on connecting the evidence based, effective psychotherapy treatment of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous is a great addition for extra tools for people recovering from addiction. The 12 Steps are predicated on giving oneself over the process and following the program, and adding in DBT skills can help provide additional tools for supporting one's work through the 12 steps and deepening one's understanding of the Steps. The author's use of her own experience and how DBT added to her recovery is a great use of the values of AA/NA of being open, honest, vulnerable and using one's own process to allow others to take what they need and leave the rest in finding their ways through the 12 Steps. -- W. Keith Sutton, Psy.D. - Psychologist - Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychotherapy