Who needs Trinity Mirror when you’ve got Fame?

TRINITY MIRROR’S local weekly Ayrshire newspapers the Ayrshire Post, Kilmarnock Standard and Irvine Herald have further reduced their business coverage, taken what little remains in-house, and dispensed with the services of former freelance business editor Murdoch MacDonald.

However, Ayr-based Murdoch is unlikely to find himself under-employed.

Already the proprietor of an innovative PR business Fame Publicity Services, last year Murdoch helped to set up the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top local companies.

And the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle has stepped into the breach left by Trinity Mirror by providing up-to-the-minute comprehensive news and feature coverage for Ayrshire businesses on its website Ayrshire Scotland Business News, which Murdoch edits.


And if that wasn’t enough, a book written by Murdoch and his wife Lilian (pictured above has recently been adopted by a major American university, the Alliant International based in California, as a set text for its doctoral psychology students. “Phoenix in a Bottle”, available from the publishers Melrose Books and on Amazon, is an account of Murdoch and Lilian’s struggle with and recovery from alcoholism.


Dr. Gary W. Lawson (pictured above) is Professor of Psychology at Alliant International University. He says: “I adopted ‘Phoenix in a Bottle’ because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.


“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in “Phoenix in a Bottle”.

“I also recommend ‘Phoenix in a Bottle’ to many of my patients as well.”

Now Lilian and Murdoch are kept busy answering e-mails from Professor Lawson’s pupils in California wanting to know more about the couple’s challenge to conventional wisdom about alcoholism.

And 61 year old Murdoch, once called “the grandfather of the PR profession in Scotland” can’t find enough hours in the day.

Who needs Trinity Mirror when you’ve got Fame?

Murdoch MacDonald
E-mail: Murdoch@famepublicity.co.uk
www.FamePublicity.co.uk
www.AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain.com

"Phoenix in a Bottle" is obtainable from the publishers Melrose Books and from Amazon.

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Lilian and Murdoch's website:

www.AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain.com

Fame Publicity Services: www.famepublicity.co.uk

* * *

American university adopts Scottish
couple’s alcoholism book as set text

A BOOK by a married couple from Ayrshire in Scotland has been selected as a set text by a top American university.


Phoenix in a Bottle by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald will now be required reading for all doctoral students in a psychology programme at Alliant International University in San Diego, California.

The book tells the story of Lilian and Murdoch’s desperate fight against and recovery from alcoholism.

Alliant International University, headquartered in San Diego and San Francisco, California, was formed in 2001 by the merger of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and the United States International University. Alliant has 6 campuses throughout California and also runs programmes in Mexico City, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant is one of the premier psychology schools in the US, and it counts roughly half the licensed clinical psychologists in California as its alumni.


Dr. Gary W. Lawson (pictured above) is Professor of Psychology at CSPP. He says: “I adopted Phoenix in a Bottle because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.

“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in Phoenix in a Bottle.

“I also recommend Phoenix in a Bottle to many of my patients as well.”

Since it was published in 2005, Phoenix in a Bottle has been listed on Amazon UK, but this month it was also listed for the first time on Amazon.com, hopefully giving an extra boost to future international sales of the book.

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Phoenix in a Bottle is published by Melrose Books price £16.99.

Melrose Books

Melrose Books marketing and promotions co-ordinator Judith Stephens commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the authors to use their writing to help those studying addictions and behaviour, who will of course go onto to help addicts.”

ABOUT LILIAN AND MURDOCH MACDONALD

In 1994 as a result of their alcoholism, Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald were down and out, sleeping rough in the streets and parks of Cambridge, the English university town where, a quarter of a century before, Murdoch had attained an honours degree.

Rejecting the conventional concepts of alcoholism, Lilian and Murdoch set about searching for the underlying causes of their self-harming behaviour problem, which they discovered lay in childhood.

They argue that no alcoholic is addicted to alcohol, but rather to the escape that alcohol affords - escape from life, or certain aspects of life with which they are unable to cope.

Having identified and addressed their issues from the past, the couple are today back home in Ayrshire, Scotland, leading normal lives again, with their problems of alcoholism and Lilian’s associated eating disorder well and truly behind them.

Controversially, they are also now able to drink alcohol responsibly again, if and when they so wish.

Described as a modern day Days of Wine and Roses, Lilian and Murdoch’s book Phoenix in a Bottle is the inspiring story of their journey.

ABOUT PROFESSOR GARY W. LAWSON

Dr. Lawson, a Professor of Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Diego, teaches in the PsyD doctoral programme in clinical psychology. He has been teaching, conducting research and publishing articles and books in the addictions field since 1971. He has conducted training in addictions all across the United States and worldwide. He and his wife Dr Ann W Lawson, a Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Marriage and Family Therapy programme at Alliant, were co-founding editors of the journal Family Dynamics of Addictions Quarterly and between them they have written 10 books on addictions and related topics. They are currently working on a fourth edition of their book Essentials of Chemical Dependency Counselling and a third edition of their book Alcoholism and the Family: A Guide to Treatment and Prevention. They just completed work on a 2nd edition of their edited book Alcoholism and Substance Abuse in Diverse Populations which should be available this summer through ProEd publishers in Austin, Texas.

ABOUT ALLIANT INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Alliant International University offers a unique curriculum that combines academics and apprenticeship in all courses of study. With accredited programs at San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, Irvine and San Diego, California, Alliant also hosts accredited programs in Mexico City, Mexico and Tokyo, Japan.

www.alliant.edu

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