This was an interesting listen. There were parts that were hard to listen to because it showed a dark time. This happened in a few parts of the book.

I learned a lot from listening to Breaking the Circuit that I have began to use in my own life.

The audiobook is rated a 3 because of the book itself. I am not sure if I would have been able to finish this if I was reading an ebook or physical copy. The audiobook narration was really good and helped me get through the book.

This is more of a memoir, the authors personal experience with the 12 step program throughout her life. It doesn’t just apply to her sobriety from substances but also growing healthier relationships and working through her triggers.

It’s a highly personal and vulnerable retelling of her life. Definitely worth the read to get a glimpse of the complexities of addiction, relationships, and how difficult it is to break a generational cycle.

The author is a doctor of physical therapy.

Dr. Harte's book is an interesting memoir with some exercises for the 12-Step Program that flows well. However, this is not really a self-help book. It is difficult to go about writing a book for the general public that deals with addiction and mental illness. That's partially because of the vast differences in personal experiences and symptoms or the stigma around both. I am sure there will be people who relate to her, but at the end of the day this is a memoir with a very hard and complex topics.

I did really enjoy the non-religious take on the 12 steps. They are so deeply steeped in religion and in the Western world especially - in Christianity in particular - that it is often off-putting to people of other religions or atheists. And portraying the modern-world desire to control every single thing in our world as a different kind of addiction itself was an interesting take. In fact, the 12 steps can in a lot of way teach us how to be more mindful and present in our lives, regardless if we're sober by choice, by need, or not at all.

The audiobook is really good - the author does an amazing job at narrating. It really carries an extra personal touch.

Breaking The Circuit, written and narrated by Dr. Samantha Harte, is a book about How to Rewire Your Mind for Hope, Resilience, and Joy in the Face of Trauma. The title of this book drew me in, as well as the description telling me that this was a trauma-informed book. I do not know much about the twelve steps, but have always enjoyed hearing recovery stories, and I feel like I learned a lot about the twelve steps, and how they can be used to help process what leads to addiction as well. Some of the tips and ideas that I thought were helpful were the idea of Letting go of control, Having opportunities at the end of the chapter to journal/reflect, remembering to be okay with anger, but also recognizing the importance for forgiveness and compassion, and recognizing when others are doing the best they can with the tools they have. I appreciated the use of the authors personal stories in the book, but did struggle a little with the idea of giving forgiveness to those who have hurt us, and recognizing where we have hurt them.
Thank you to NetGalley, and to the author, publisher, and narrator of this book for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. This book was an engaging mix of self help, self reflection from the author and connecting the 12 steps to other life events outside of sobriety/addiction. The audiobook was really well done and easy to follow along with.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Breaking the Circuit by Samantha Harte, an audiobook narrated by Samantha Harte was an interesting experience. This book is classified as a self-help book but it didn't feel to me as a self-help one. It was an emotional and brutally honest story of Samantha Harte!

First of all, you must be brave to open up your life like this! It's not easy to show you the most vulnerable moments of the bad choices! And for this - full respect Samantha Harte!
I am happy that Samantha managed to adapt 12 steps to her life and live with this lifestyle. It would not work for me, but I am fully open that we all have things that working or not working for us.
And I know that religion is such a sensitive topic but it is a man's made-up thing! Once upon a time when science was underdeveloped and people could not explain a lot of things, they made up mythical things because they wanted an explanation. Nowadays we can explain everything with science so technically religion should be cancelled as a thing!

Yes, there is energy that we can work around but this is more like working with a mindset and inner work and has nothing to do with God or whatever you want to call the myth!

Anywho, back to the book. I am reviewing this book as a memoir! Seriously, Samantha, your life is so harsh but colourful and I am so happy you let us in to see the journey! We can see you went through hell to come out on a better side! I truly enjoyed every single paragraph of this book.

I don't think that I will summarise this book, I believe everyone can catch the vibe!

I think that knowing Samantha narrated this book gave this audiobook so much reality! Just knowing it's Samantha's voice you could connect with the complicated situations she was going through as she could add the right emotions!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

The Good: Dr. Harte wrote this book wanting to approach the 12 steps from a more accessible, trauma-informed lens and generally met this goal but struggled with the trauma-informed part which I will speak more to later! I appreciated how she helped the reader navigate the 12 steps which is largely religious and spiritual in nature for those who are non-religious. There are meetings that are already doing this, but at the beginning of the book, I could absolutely see myself using this as a tool with future clients on how the 12 steps are useful for everyone. I also really enjoyed Dr. Harte's autobiography where she reflected on the role addiction has played in her life and those around her and how trauma has been so deeply intertwined with this illness.

The Bad: Where Dr. Harte lost me and quite frankly made me angry as a future counselor was when she suggested that those working the 12 steps as God or their higher power to remove their anger and resentment, when this is not what victims of trauma need. Too many times, individuals who have experienced deep trauma especially in childhood were not able to express their anger and it shows up in adulthood through transference. I'm not saying that everyone should go around being angry at everyone, but part of the healing process is feeling the righteous anger they were never allowed to feel growing up! You can see where she talks about this in Step 7. She also completely lost me at Step 8 where she suggests people who have been hurt by people apologize for the resentment they've held toward others, including parents who may have abused you. And not only do you need to apologize for your resentment, but you need to forgive them for hurting you in order to let go of your anger. THIS IS NOT TRAUMA-INFORMED! Victims, you do not have to forgive your abusers in order to heal and you do not have to apologize for being hurt and feeling resentment for what they did to you. You do not have to apologize for your feelings at all.

The Ugly: I would not recommend this book to others because of the large qualifiers that accompany it. As much as the physical therapist Dr. Harte tried to remove religion out of the 12 steps, she unfortunately left a lot of toxic religiosity in the teachings. It is also clear why none of the endorsements on the book are from an LPC, LMHC, or LCSW.

I was provided a copy of this book through NetGalley by Greenleaf Book Group and Dr. Samantha Harte in exchange for an honest review.

The focus on forgiveness alone is harmful to victims who've suffered true trauma. As a memoir, Sam’s writing is honest, unflinching and brave. This was not for me, unfortunately. I didn't find anything new. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the oppotunity.

This book is a helpful guide to the AA 12 step program for people who are put off by the religiosity of the original structure. Most of the adaptations change the word "God" to "god of your understanding" but that acknowledgement can be meaningful. The guidance is interspersed with the harrowing personal recovery journey of the author.

This was not for me, unfortunately. I didn't find anything new. Wasn't into the narrator either. But thank you to NetGalley for an early audio version. This in my honest review.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Samantha Harte, Greenleaf Audiobooks, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this audiobook is the author, Samantha Harte. She does an excellent job narrating. The audio is crisp and her voice is lively and interesting.

This isn't what I thought it was. This is primarily a memoir mostly about substance abuse, dysfunctional family and how finding god helped the author with sobriety. Throughout the book, in each chapter, there is homework for the reader in relation to whatever step in the 12 step program the chapter relates to. I don't think the author connects the homework to healing for the reader effectively. The author has a doctorate in physical therapy and a strong social media presence. She also runs both a podcast and a retreat.

Given the authors university education is in physical therapy, not psychology or psychiatry, this felt a lot like a lay person using pop psychology buzz words. The 12 Step Program isn't universally helpful even for addiction. In fact it has about an 8-12% effectiveness rate.

As a society we understand that addiction is much more nuanced than the 12 Step Program acknowledges. People abuse substances for a multitude of reasons. Studies have shown that addiction correlates with trauma, poverty, etc. When offered an ideal environment rats stop being drug addicts, probably humans would too. So the 12 Step Program isn't current with what science says today about addiction and recovery.

I am the adult daughter of an alcoholic Dad. In addition my mom's family has struggles with addiction that impact each generation. So I'm quite familiar with the Twelve Step Program. I've not struggled personally with addiction but given my involvement in and with the 12 Step Program, I'm not a fan. I witnessed the program with my late aunt, Mar. Aunt Mar began drinking at about the age of 8. She would resist treatment and even drank rubbing alcohol. In her mid 30's she completed the 12 Step Program and was clean for a decade. She was an addiction counselor and ran a program which allowed children to stay with their mothers as they received treatment. Still a decade later she drank until she literally blew her brains out. So the long term effectiveness of the program is nonexistent for me.

I hoped the author would transform the classic 12 Step Program in a helpful and replicable way. Instead this is largely the authors own very personal tweaks and how she now views her entire life via a 12 Step lens. This is what worked for her personally and that's an important and worthy story on its own. My issue is with the author's attempt to treat others for substance abuse or mental health issues via her work in the medical field as a physical therapist. She doesn't offer peer reviewed research, which would be necessary for her to know if her 'hacks' create replicable healing for others. Frankly the author is not educated or skilled enough to help folks who suffer from these complex issues. It feels like this book is to try to manipulate suffering folks into thinking if they go to her retreats they'll be happier.

Mental illness and substance abuse lead to dismal rates of suicide. Absolutely heartbreaking rates. Those rates are up given the fallout from the Covid pandemic and the absolutely dismal state of world politics, not to mention the financial and housing crisis currently going on. This is irresponsible of the author and I worry about a desperate person needing the help of actual mental health professionals but believing this because the author portrays herself as part of the medical field. Which she is, physical therapy is an extremely important part of medicine. That said, I would not want my dentist overseeing my physical therapy. By that same token I don't want a physical therapist overseeing my mental health. Even if they earned a PhD and had mental health struggles themselves. This is horribly inappropriate.

Honestly I fear this book could be dangerous for a person truly in a vulnerable place. This book makes me uncomfortable. If you chose to read this please only do so as a memoir. The focus on forgiveness alone is harmful to victims who've suffered true trauma. You don't need to focus on forgiveness or how you contributed to the situation. This advice is dated and unhelpful. Not to mention dangerous. Trying to forgive my abuser caused me serious psychological harm. Therapists don't do that now and so this author is pushing debunked mental health practices. It feels like crunchy nonsense in order to grow her online presence and push her wellness retreats. The author even admits this started because her physical therapy patients stopped seeing her once the insurance no longer covered visits, even if they still needed her services. At first she has a side hustle as a trainer with patients who agree to hire to train them at a local gym after their insurance stops paying for physical therapy. This alone feels immoral. I would not want my doctor or therapist treating me via my insurance looking for other business models to take advantage of the relationship they've already developed with me. It sounds predatory. The author realizes folk are willing to spend money on yoga, gym memberships and other wholistic services. That pays better than physical therapy and so she develops a business around that model. All of which is fine as long as she doesn't try to offer services she's not licensed or trained for and obfuscates that fact with vague language about being a medical professional.

Thank you to Samantha Harte, Greenleaf Audiobooks, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.