The purpose for this book is to make the concept of developmental psychology relevant to the average person. The goal is for people to be able to use this information to help themselves and thus be better prepared to help others.
I have three target audiences in mind for this book.
My first audience is the professionals providing counseling and treatment. I linked the concepts in this book to psychological theories with the goal that my AODC counseling friends can fit these ideas into their existing approach to treatment.
My second audience is the people that set policy on alcohol and other drugs. I believe that the politicalization of our policies means that we fail. In many ways the way the government today treats addicts is a repetition of the way the government previously treated Native Americans and emancipated slaves. My goal is to show how we fail to include addicts in our “circles of compassion”, and then point the way forward.
My third audience is the people in the Nar-Anon meeting that is my home meeting. I believe that if it is meaningful to these friends then it should carry over to families affected by alcohol and other drugs throughout the world.
The people most likely to buy this book are the program directors and families of alcoholics and addicts.
There are hundreds of books about drug policy. This one is unique, however, in that it unifies the developmental psychology, circles of compassion and social evolution into a simple framework. No one else has yet found this framework.
1. Introduction
2. Growth Rings
a. Stage 0 – Infant
b. Stage 1 – Selfish
c. Stage 2 – Me-first
d. Stage 3 – Team-Player
e. Stage 4 – Role-Player
f. Stage 5 – Statesman
g. Stage 6 – Humanitarian
h. Stage 7 – Ecological
3. Trailblazers
a. Mahatma Gandhi
b. Abraham Lincoln
c. Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. Social Evolution
a. Social Evolution in the Christian Bible
i. Primitive Governance
ii. Harmonious Governance
iii. Empires
iv. Reaching Beyond Stage-Three
v. Vision for the Future
b. Social Evolution in the USA
i. Inaugural Addresses
ii. Treatment of minorities
iii. Stage specific responses
5. The Appropriate Response
a. Stage specific responses based on the Addict, Family and Policy
Growth Rings makes concepts from developmental psychology relevant to peoples’ daily lives. This book describes the eight stages of development and shows how those stages influenced key historical figures. It then links developmental psychology with current legal topics.
Developmental psychology, disciple, drug policy, family and relationships, helping others, history, learning, psychology, recovery, social evolution, spiritual, team formation, US Presidents
Non-Fiction > Relationships and Family > History