Some Assembly Required: A Balanced Approach to Recovery from Addiction and Chronic Pain is a rare volume that addresses the twin challenges of addiction and chronic pain from both personal and professional perspectives. Part memoir, part self-help book, and part psychoeducational/clinical analysis, it offers insight into some of the driving factors in the opioid epidemic and presents a holistic multi-dimensional framework for recovery from these life-altering co-occurring disorders. (Central Recovery Press, 2013)
Personally inscribed and signed copies can be purchased via PayPal for $20.00 each (includes Priority Mail shipping). Please send me an email at: dan@mindfulhealing4life.com with any specific inscription instructions.
Special Praise for Some Assembly Required
“An exceptional find! There are books about addiction, books about chronic pain, and books about recovery, but it is a rarity to find a book that addresses the three together. Some Assembly Required offers the reader a powerful portrayal of the interplay of drug abuse and chronic pain and is equally strong in its emphasis on the tools that offer recovery from both. More than the tale of his personal journey, Dan Mager quickly captures the reader with his gifted use of words, metaphors, and brutal honesty. This is a must read for anyone, personally or professionally, who wants to understand addiction, living with addiction and chronic pain, and recovery. Educational and thought-provoking—it is an inspiring read.”
Claudia Black, PhD, MSW, Clinical architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center at The Meadows and author of It Will Never Happen to Me and Unspoken Legacy
“Dan Mager uses his personal and professional experience to illustrate how twelve-step recovery can be combined with mindfulness-based practices, as well as Western psychological theory and psychotherapeutic approaches. Written with insight and humor, it is a heartfelt story of how the integration of these elements can facilitate the internal shift from chronic avoidance of one’s emotional and physical pain to acceptance of it. For those struggling with addiction and chronic pain, and the professionals who desire to help them, Some Assembly Required is an important read.”
John C. Friel, PhD, MN and NV Licensed Psychologist and author of The Power and Grace Between Nasty or Nice: Replacing Entitlement, Narcissism, and Incivility with Knowledge, Caring, and Genuine Self-Esteem and The 7 Best Things Happy Couples Do
“Anyone searching for an interesting education in the chronic pain and addiction genres will find Some Assembly Required a must-read. I especially appreciate Dan Mager’s unique perspective and broad-based approach to recovery and living with both addiction and chronic pain in a way that works for him, rather than against him. Starting with the Introduction, I was immediately brought into his turbulent journey and fall from grace, and then how he marched through fear to find hope and healing. Dan’s way of illustrating the progression and accompanying internal dialogues of active addiction is incredibly powerful. What a great book!”
Jason Z W Powers, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Right Step, Spirit Lodge, and San Cristobal of Elements Behavioral Health and author of When the Servant Becomes the Master
“Dan Mager has written an instructive tale about his struggle with addiction and chronic pain and the power of denial, while offering hope and guidance in sharing his path to recovery.”
David E. Smith, MD, Founder of Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinics of San Francisco, Past President of American Society of Addiction Medicine, Chief of Addiction Medicine Newport Academy and author of Unchain Your Brain