Addiction, Alcoholism and the Novel:
The Neurosurgeon
by Travis Robertson
Addiction and alcoholism
Addiction and mind-altering drugs. If you enjoy reading great psychological novels, consider The Neurosurgeon by Travis Robertson. Check out to our home page, Books and Links: addiction & psychological novels,for more details.
Addiction & “The Neurosurgeon”
- Addiction & “The Neurosurgeon”
Addiction. This psychological thriller, a novel about addiction (“Bourbon”sung beautifully by Joy Collins in this informative You Tube video) explores the inner workings of a brain surgeon, Doctor Ira Stone, who struggles with multiple demons. The physician is charged with repairing other people’s brains while his own is torn asunder. He must do no harm and honor his pledge to the Hippocratic Oath. The surgeon keeps this professional obligation, but at the same time his personal indiscretions are ripping him apart.
Addiction, adultery and elusive recovery
The novel follows the journey of a man falling in love with a beautiful yet mysterious surgical nurse, Stephanie DeLeon, also suffering from her own addiction issues–methamphetamine. As Ira hits rock bottom and tries desperately to extract himself from the tentacles of both Steffi and alcohol, he begins a search for an elusive redemption. This compelling story of adultery, addiction, and an elusive recovery is expertly interwoven with meticulously researched medical vignettes. The sequences depicting surgery are particularly moving not only in their accuracy but also in the way the careful, regimented operations contradict the manner in which the surgeon lives outside of the operating room.
This story of addiction hints at larger ideas of redemption and human nature. Although this work is titled The Neurosurgeon, the physician’s career is perhaps less compelling than his social life. Indeed, he is defined by his work while his real existence has less to do with medicine and surgery. This engrossing psychological novel, written by a brain surgeon, is available at most bookstores through this website, Books and Links: addiction & psychological novels, or directly from the links below. Read this fascinating book, one of many psychological novels but focusing on addiction.
Sources for The Neurosurgeon
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Why you would enjoy reading this book
Addiction and the human condition.
This book, one of many psychological novels, would be of interest to anyone intrigued by the human condition and addiction, including physicians & surgeons, nurses, psychologists, addicts & alcoholics and their families, addiction therapists, and readers of psychological intrigue. Whereas this is a fascinating work of fiction, the events are all too real. No matter how much the devastation by alcohol and drugs, there is hope for the addict (addiction and hope).
The evils & dangers of addiction
Wikipedia states:
“Addiction is the continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse dependency consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors.”
Most scientific authorities on addiction believe that this problem is a medical disease, though a large segment of the population, including some therapists, still insist that it is a psychological behavioral problem, even a lack of will, some say. There are numerous articles, scientific and otherwise, about addiction, including alcoholism: National Institute on Drug Abuse (addiction), Addiction Journal, Psychology Today (addiction), and many others.
Instructive photo from FotoSearch
The disease of addiction is difficult to treat, and nearly impossible without the addict taking active steps toward recovery (as The Neurosurgeon shows). But therapists (often recovering addicts themselves) and treatment centers for rehabilitation are available, though one needs to check a selection out to avoid scams or poor quality treatment.
A good start is going to the Central Office (of Alcoholics Anonymous; look for the AA symbol: a circle around a triangle) for information or an AA/NA group meeting. On the Internet one can find suggestions and advertisements for these programs, including Hazelden (the center where this author was successfully treated), Talbott, Copac, and Palmetto, to name a few. Residential therapy for drug and alcohol addiction takes one to three months, and sometimes six months. I estimate that the two-year success rate is about 50%. These programs are costly (but often medical insurance or grants will cover some of the expenses). See publication from Beachway Therapy Center for information regarding suggestions for locating possible free addiction treatment.
The monetary cost of drug rehabilitation pales before the cost of the addiction. In the latter one must included the costs of medical therapy, psychological treatment, accidents, lawsuits, attorneys, alimony & child support, job losses, drugs and drug paraphernalia, losing one’s license (automobile, professional), drug testing, moving, loss of house or apartment, loss of a car, loss of investments, and loss of the interest or dividends from monies diverted to the aforementioned.
Addiction is expensive (Educational photo from FotoSearch)
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(View another page in this website to see a thesaurus of 2,060 synonyms for “said,” “thought,” and “walked” in the author’s Mini-Thesaurus for psychological novels. Synonyms for these verbs were used extensively in the psychological novel, The Neurosurgeon.)
[This website and my novel, The Neurosurgeon, are protected by copyright ©]
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