Addictions: Elements, History, Treatments, and Research

This sourcebook provides a clear and comprehensive overview of addiction, a disorder affecting roughly one in ten people in the United States. Now widely recognized as a brain disorder, addiction impacts not only individuals but also families and society at large. What drives people to keep using substances or behaviours they know are harmful and how can those cycles be broken? Written by experts who treat people with addiction, this text provides an up-to-date explanation of different addictions with respect to their history, treatments, and related research. Readers will understand the causes, complications, and treatment of addictions after reading this text. Chapters examine the most serious addictions to drugs — alcohol, tobacco, opioids, stimulants, inhalants, and sedative hypnotics — and to a highly addictive activity now recognized as a behavioral addiction, gambling. Each addiction is explored through its history, underlying mechanisms, treatment approaches, and current research. Chapters also consider rapidly changing issues related to addiction, including the increase in deaths due to the opioid epidemic, the evolving legal status of marijuana, and the use of hallucinogens in therapy. In addition to forms of addiction, the text addresses the neurobiology of addiction, highlighting ongoing discoveries about the brain pathways involved. The Health and Psychology Sourcebooks series is ideal for undergraduate students, practitioners, and general readers interested in learning more about physical, psychological and environmental conditions.