Peg O'Connor, PhD, explores 'fearthought' - the point at which fear begins overruling forethought. Through Ryan, an exhausted parent, child, friend, and employee, she shows how impossible self-demands can feed resentment, perfectionism, and escape through alcohol, drugs, or addictive behaviors.

John Makohen argues that the first use of heroin is often not the beginning of addiction. Years of trauma, stress, loneliness, mental health symptoms, prior substance use, pain, and learned relief may already have shaped the brain's coping patterns - which means prevention must begin much earlier than the drug itself.

Joshua Coleman, PhD, explores a painful part of family estrangement: losing not only contact, but control over the story of who you are. He asks readers to hold two truths at once - real harm must not be hidden, yet no accusation, screenshot, or single memory can fully capture a family or a person.