Unsweetined (a book review)

Source:
Sweetin, J. with J. Warech. (2009). Unsweetined: a memoir. Simon Spotlight Entertainment: New York.

Stephanie Tanner was always my favorite character on the “Full House” sitcom.

Actress Jodie Sweetin who played Stephanie Tanner revealed her story with addictions to drinking and drugs and her process of recovery in her new (2009) book “Unsweetined – a memoir” with Jon Warech. I had no idea that Jodie had these problems until I saw that she had a book out.

Jodie reveals that she started drinking when she went to Candace’s (who played D.J. in Full House) wedding as a teenager. Jodie started drinking there and it continued to progress to worse addictions over the years.

All addictions start with that first try. My grandfather, Raymond Keesee was an alcoholic. My mother wouldn’t even allow him to come to her wedding because of his drinking. My mother has always said, “You’ll never know if you have that gene to become an alcoholic if you never take that first sip.” I felt the same way after eating a Brownie-met at McDonalds Sunday night (Nov. 29th, 2009). As I took that first bite, I knew I was hooked.

Mental Health Professionals Should Read This Book

Recreational therapists and allied professionals in mental health could find interest in this book. I found similar patterns from Jodie that I see in patients with addictions.

A person with an addiction is in a constant cycle. I’ve worked with people who have offending behaviors, too.

You can clearly see that Jodie was in the planning phase in this quote from her book:

“Halloween... it sounded like an opportunity to drink.

Kristen liked to party and her boyfriend was a bartender on the boat. All the pieces were falling into place. I know what I was getting myself into. The night before the party, my mind was going 90 mph thinking about how I was going to pull it off… In my head, I was drinking the day before I picked up the first cocktail. p. 90.”

Thoughts are powerful. Napoleon Hill, author of, Think and Grow Rich, said: "what you think about you bring about." Here are some exmaples. If you think about drinking then you're probably going to do it. If you think about going to a movie then you're probably going to go see it eventually. If you think about becoming a teacher and you keep that thought for a long time, you're likely to go to college to get a degree in teaching and end up becoming a teacher.

I'd say she needs to change her thinking. Think about success. Think about healthy relationships. Think about something new.

She continues to show denial of her problem:

“I wasn’t an alcoholic, I told myself. I was just too young before, now I know how to control my drinking. p. 90.”

People in treament could benefit from reading this book.

Bibliotherapy is a treatment used by recreational therapists and allied professionals. This is where the patient reads a book for healing and therapeutic benefits. In this case, a person with addictions may be able to read Jodie's book for insight. The therapist could assign the reader to identify all of Jodie's "cognitive distrotions" or to identify ways she "lapsed" after treatment. They could identify when Jodie went into "high-risk situations" that would likely cause her to relapse.

Here is an amazon link for people interested in reading this book:




Here are some YouTube videos of Stephanie:



Here is a YouTube video of her giving a speech a college on overcoming her addictions, where she says, "how rude," as an adult. I admit that I played the video below three times. I laughed, too.



I feel like Stephanie is my friend. I grew-up with her on t.v. (laugh aloud). I once laughed at a woman who said that Friends[the sitcome] were her real Friends.

I worry that Jodie will slip back into old habits and start drinking again. I especially worry since she has a child now. Of course, that is just the "healer" personality in me. It is her life and her responsiblity. I hope this child-star gets back into some movies.

Jodie is on my list of must-meet people.