Works by
Katherine Ketcham
(Writer)

Non-fiction

• Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption (2006) by William Cope Moyers with Katherine Ketcham
  William Cope Moyers has come a long, long way. In 1994, he lay on the floor of an Atlanta crack house. His father had put together a search party. His worried family waited at home where Moyers had left them when he embarked on yet another binge. From that lowly, drug-hazed night, Moyers went on to become an executive at the Hazelden Foundation and travels far and wide to talk about addiction and treatment.
  
  Broken tells the story of what happened between then and now—from growing up the privileged son of Bill Moyers to his descent into alcoholism and drug addiction, his numerous stabs at getting clean, his many relapses, and how he managed to survive. Harrowing and wrenching, Broken paints a picture of a man with every advantage who nonetheless found himself spiraling into a dark and life-threatening abyss. But unlike other memoirs of its kind, Broken emerges into the clear light of Moyers’s recovery as he dedicates his life to changing the politics of addiction. Beautifully written with a deep underlying spirituality, this is a missive of hope for the scores of Americans struggling with addiction—and an honest and inspiring account that proves the spiritual insight that we are strongest at the broken places.

• Teens Under the Influence: The Truth About Kids, Alcohol, and Other Drugs- How to Recognize the Problem and What to Do About It (2003)
  Across the United States, in small towns and major cities, in suburbs and slums, in public and private schools, thousands of kids are experimenting with drugs. Many of them will become addicts; some will die. The first and only book to focus entirely on adolescent alcohol and other drug use, Teens Under the Influence addresses the immediate dangers that threaten these kids—exploring the short- and long-term effects of their addiction and giving parents solid, sensitive, practical advice to combat this growing epidemic.
  
  Knowledge is the key to defeating drug addictions, and that is what this comprehensive, timely new book provides. Full of candid true stories from adolescent drug users, with facts based on the most recent scientific research, Teens Under the Influence tells you exactly what you need to know to deal with your child’s problem, covering such important topics as

  • The common myths and misconceptions about drug addiction

  • The crucial differences between adult and adolescent dependency

  • The reasons kids get hooked

  • The stages of adolescent addiction

  • The different kinds of drugs kids use and combine

  • Various treatment options and how to choose the best treatment for your child

  • Strategies for handling relapses

  Teens Under the Influence offers practical help that may save your child’s life. It may save the life of a friend. And it may save your own. 

• Beyond the Influence (2000) by Katherine Ketcham and William F. Asbury, Mel Schulstad, with Arthur P. Ciaramicoli
  Alcoholism is a disease. It's time we started treating it like one.
  
  Science has offered undisputed proof that alcoholism is a disease rather than a weakness of character, yet millions of alcoholics continue to suffer due to inappropriate treatment. Now the co-author of the modern classic Under the Influence has teamed up with prominent alcoholism experts to provide new answers to this national epidemic.
  
  Based on the latest scientific research, Beyond the Influence clearly explains the neurological nature of the disease and reveals why some people drink addictively and others do not. It also spells out what needs to be done to treat alcoholism, including:
   

  • Steps to take for an intervention

  • Which psychological approaches work best

  • Why spirituality is essential to recovery

  • New insights into relapse prevention

  • What you should know about diet, exercise, and nontraditional treatments such as acupuncture

  • Provocative and eye-opening, compelling and compassionate, Beyond the Influence is not only a message of hope for alcoholics--it is a blueprint for saving lives.

  BEYOND THE INFLUENCE explains that alcoholism is a disease of the body, not a weakness of character. Drawing on the latest scientific studies, the authors present new research on the central role of genetics and neurotransmitters in addiction. Continuing where the prior book left off, it also includes:
   

  • Steps for diagnosis and intervention, plus ways to prevent relapse

  • Various treatment models, including inpatient and out-patient programs and a review of new drug treatment

  • The most effective types of psychological counseling

  • The critical role of nutrition

  • Non-traditional healing methods for recovery

  • The importance of a spiritual component to recovery

  The authors also critique our nation's alcoholism policies, including education and prevention programs, efforts to curtail college bingeing and underage drinking, and the advertising and marketing strategies of the alcohol industry.

• The Power of Empathy: A Practical Guide to Creating Intimacy, Self-Understanding, and Lasting Love in Your Life (2000) by Arthur P. Ciaramicoli and Katherine Ketcham
  Empathy, an innate human capacity that gives us the ability to understand the unique experiences of another person, is the most overlooked component of relationships. By allowing us to connect with one another on a meaningful and fulfilling level, it "can help and heal us all. This excellent book shows you how" (Edward Hallowell, M.D., author of Connect). Using a practical and inspiring plan for making empathy a vital part of your everyday life, discover:

  • Why empathy is crucial to finding love

  • How to be an empathic listener

  • How empathy can improve sex and create lasting intimacy

  • How empathy differs from sympathy

  • 10

  • How empathy can help rebuild a relationship and restore confidence, trust, and faith

  Prescriptive and provocative, The Power of Empathy shows us how we can transform our lives-and the lives of those we love.

• Chinese Medicine for Maximum Immunity: Understanding the Five Elemental Types for Health and Well-Being (1999) by Jason Elias and Katherine Ketcham
  Reflecting on the connection between the rise in chronic immune disorders and toxic environmental and lifestyle patterns, herbalist and acupuncturist Jason Elias and collaborator Katherine Ketcham looked to the 5,000-year-old The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine to seek clues for restoring the balance of body and mind.
  
  In Chinese Medicine for Maximum Immunity, Elias and Ketcham show how to use the preventive strategies and gentle, supportive remedies of traditional Chinese medicine to heal contemporary chronic illnesses and bolster immunity. The book teaches readers how to identify which element--Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water--most directly influences them and how to correct imbalances that can lead to particular physical, emotional, and spiritual disorders with step-by-step instruction for using stress-reduction techniques, diet and exercise, herbs, and acupressure.

• Feminine Healing (1997) by Jason Elias and Katherine Ketcham
  A unique handbook that combines practical recommendations for specific health problems with parables, folklore, and ancient wisdom about the potency of the feminine spirit. Organized by the stages of a woman's life, it offers both the Western and Chinese interpretations and therapies for common health concerns as well as details on proven complementary treatments. Here is information on supplements, exercise, diet, herbal remedies, Chinese patent remedies, acupuncture points, and mental exercises to stimulate the mind/body/spirit connection -- everything you need to know to embrace a truly comprehensive course of healing.

• In the House of the Moon: Reclaiming the Feminine Spirit of Healing (1995) by Jason Elias and Katherine Ketcham

• The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse (1994) by Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham
  According to many clinical psychologists, when the mind is forced to endure a horrifying experience, it has the ability to bury the entire memory of it so deeply within the unconscious that it can only be recalled in the form of a flashback triggered by a sight, a smell, or a sound. Indeed, therapists and lawyers have created an industry based on treating and litigating the cases of people who suddenly claim to have "recovered" memories of everything from child abuse to murder.
  
  This book reveals that despite decades of research, there is absolutely no controlled scientific support for the idea that memories of trauma are routinely banished into the unconscious and then reliably recovered years later. Since it is not actually a legitimate psychological phenomenon, the idea of "recovered memory"—and the movement that has developed alongside it—is thus closer to a dangerous fad or trendy witch hunt.

• The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning (1992) by Ernie Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham
  I Am Not Perfect is a simple statement of profound truth, the first step toward understanding the human condition, for to deny your essential imperfection is to deny yourself and your own humanity. The spirituality of imperfection, steeped in the rich traditions of the Hebrew prophets and Greek thinkers, Buddhist sages and Christian disciples, is a message as timeless as it is timely. This insightful work draws on the wisdom stories of the ages to provide an extraordinary wellspring of hope and inspiration to anyone thirsting for spiritual growth and guidance in these troubled times.
  
  Who are we? Why so we so often fall short of our goals for ourselves and others? By seeking to understand our limitations and accept the inevitably of failure and pain, we being to ease the hurt and move toward a greater sense of serenity and self-awareness. The Spirituality Of Imperfection brings together stories from many spiritual and philosophical paths, weaving past traditions into a spirituality and a new way of thinking and living that works today. It speaks so anyone who yearns to find meaning within suffering. Beyond theory and technique, inside this remarkable book you will find a new way of thinking, a way of living that enables a truly human existence.

• Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial (1992) by Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham
  "The study of memory had become my specialty, my passion. In the next few years I wrote dozens of papers about how memory works and how it fails, but unlike most researchers studying memory, my work kept reaching out into the real world. To what extent, I wondered, could a person's memory be shaped by suggestion? When people witness a serious automobile accident, how accurate is their recollection of the facts? If a witness is questioned by a police officer, will the manner of questioning alter the representation of the memory? Can memories be supplemented with additional, false information?"
  
  The "passion" Loftus describes in the lines above led her to a teaching career at the University of Washington and, perhaps more importantly, into hundreds of courtrooms as an expert witness on the fallibility of eyewitness accounts. As she has explained in numerous trials, and as she convincingly argues in this absorbing book, eyewitness accounts can be and often are so distorted that they no longer resemble the truth.

• Living On the Edge (1989)

• Recovering: How to Get and Stay Sobeer (1987) by Katherine Ketcham and L. Ann Mueller

• Eating Right to Live Sober (1986) by Anne L. Mueller and Katherine Ketcham

• Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism (1981) by James Robert Milam and Katherine Ketcham
  Ten of millions Americans suffer from alcoholism, yet most people still wrongly believe that alcoholism is a psychological or moral problem, and that it can be cured by psychotherapy or sheer will power. Based on groundbreaking scientific research, Under The Influence examine the physical factors that set alcoholics and non-alcoholics apart, and suggests a bold, stigma-free way of understanding and treating the alcoholic.

  • How to tell if someone you know is an alcoholic.

  • The progressive stages of alcoholism.

  • How to get an alcoholic into treatment -- and how to choose a treatment program.

  • Why frequently prescribed drugs can be dangerous -- even fatal -- for alcoholics.

  • How to ensure a lasting recovery.

Other

• Mindfield: A Quarterly Source Journal for Consciousness (Vol. 1, No. 3) Fall 1992 (1992), James Mosher, ed.
  Articles by Chogyam Trungpa, Ernie Kurtz, Katherine Ketcham, Larry Dossey, Roger S. Jones, and Theodore Roszak