Book Review: Potter-Efron, R. (2002). Shame, Guilt, and Alcoholism: Treatment Issues in Clinical Practice (2nd ed.). New York: Haworth Press, pp. 237

• Author: Robert D. Hanser
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016807310601
• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Date: 01 December 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

conformity by a group of State Department employees, the Defenders of the Fourth

Amendment, who claimed that random testing is an unwarranted invasion of privacy, not a

cost-effective deterrent: “The federal government’s random testing costs $10.7 million

annually and produces four hundred positive results out of 1.8 million workers. From 1993

to 1998, the federal government conducted 257,576 random tests and discovered 1,345

positive cases, or .52 percent of those tested. The six years of random testing cost taxpayers

a total of $31,791,881. Each positive finding cost a whopping $23,637!” (p. 155). This final

chapter offers interesting comparisons from radar detectors, to pirated music, to term paper

sharing. He observes, “Detox products are part of one industry offering commodities

designed to undermine the rule of law” (p. 135).

The careful reader must observe that the author has not been well-served by the publisher’s

proofreading. Among errors observed, two deserve special mention: an ois omitted from

criminology on the reverse of the title page, and the forename of a distinguished criminologist

mentioned in the acknowledgments is glaringly misspelled, although correctly,and prominently,

displayed on the back cover.

H. H. A. Cooper

The University of Texas at Dallas

Potter-Efron, R. (2002). Shame, Guilt, and Alcoholism: Treatment

Issues in Clinical Practice (2nd ed.). New York: Haworth Press, pp. 237

DOI: 10.1177/0734016807310601

As the title implies, this book’s primary focus centers on the issues of guilt and shame

that are often associated with addiction. Potter-Efron provides an excellent presentation of

how shame and guilt often serve to exacerbate addiction problems and how these feelings

and symptoms tend to be pivotal issues of corollary concern in the recovery process. This

is an important aspect of addiction treatment that often is presented in an ambiguous and

oblique fashion by many authors in the field of addiction treatment. Potter-Efron has the

unique skill and insight to present this topic of treatment in a clear, organized, and practical

manner that has great utility for therapists desiring to explore such treatment dimensions

with their own practice.

Shame and guilt are presented as self-conscious emotions that are linked to a variety of

other negative and self-debilitating emotions. However, unlike his previous edition, Potter-

Efron now has reworked guilt to emphasize its prosocial origin from empathy and altruism

as well as its adaptive, nonpathogenic aspects. Although true guilt still serves the Freudian

function of aggression control, Potter-Efron notes that this is less a begrudging need to

control one’s desires and more a positive wish to not cause harm to those who are loved.

Potter-Efron likewise explores shame in a separate sense and demonstrates the connection

between shame and rage.

One of the key distinctions related to Potter-Efron’s approach to shame and guilt is the

fact that he does not necessarily see these emotional responses as being wholly bad but

Book Review(s) 469