Likely during the counseling experience with me I will ask you to watch to following two Ted Talks. Both are by Brene Brown and create a common language for us to speak during therapy.
The gold standard for all recovery books is the Alcoholics Anonymous big book. It is blue and has the words Alcoholics Anonymous on the cover. This book described the 12-steps of AA in a clear and concise way. It also has many written testimonials in the back of the book. The critique of this book tends to be the language in the book is outdated since the book was written in the 1930’s. But the content and heart of the book are still very relevant.
Additionally the Narcotics Anonymous book is also blue, but it was written in the 1980’s. Therefore the language is somewhat more contemporary. There is almost no difference between the steps described in the NA book compared to the AA book.
The other book that I almost always recommend to my clients as they enter in to counseling is The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. I find that a driving force in ongoing self destructive behavior is one’s own shame. This book gives clear and easy to understand strategies for building one’s shame resilience.