The ability to self-nurture and set effective limits is the root of human maturity, and the foundation for emotional, behavioural, and spiritual balance. Fortunately, the skills to self-nurture and set effective limits can be fine-tuned and readers will learn them via a wealth of practical examples, colourful case histories, and scientific findings that are both fascinating and easy to understand. These skills are effective for a wide range of psychological and addictive problems--from alcoholism and other addictions to overeating, overworking, overspending, and perfectionism.

A comprehensive and compassionate look into the major issues surrounding drug and alcohol abuse-from their causes and symptoms to their lethal consequences and treatment options.

This work deals with substance abuse among the incarcerated criminal population as well as the street criminal in a criminogenic neighborhood or setting. It is designed to be used by criminal justice professionals particularly those in corrections and intervention programs. Law enforcement program managers will also be able to develop programs based on the paradigm development outlined by Mr. Pitts. Since the author himself underwent imprisonment and substance abuse, the discussion of inmate drug abuser is particularly compelling and important. The success of various methodologies and treatment programs is discussed.

"This book takes an integrative approach to the understanding of drug use and its relationship to social-cultural factors. It is lucidly and powerfully argued and constitutes a significant achievement. The authors sensibly argue that in order to fully understand and explain drug use and abuse it is necessary to take into account different levels of analysis, reflecting distinct domains of human functioning; the biological, psychosocial, and cultural-historical?.Overall, this book represents an exceptional achievement and should be of interest to drug clinicians and researcher as well as social scientists and students."

--Professor Tony Ward, University of Melbourne

Substance use and abuse are two of the most frequent psychological problems clinicians encounter. Mainstream approaches focus on the biological and psychological factors supporting drug abuse. But to fully comprehend the issue, clinicians need to consider the social, historical, and cultural factors responsible for drug-related problems.

Substance Use and Abuse: Cultural and Historical Perspectives provides an inclusive explanation of the human desire to take drugs. Using a multidisciplinary framework, authors Russil Durrant and Jo Thakker explore the cultural and historical variables that contribute to drug use. Integrating biological, psychosocial, and cultural-historical perspectives, this innovative and accessible volume addresses the fundamental question of why drug use is such a ubiquitous feature of human society.

Addressing issues important to prevention, treatment, and public policy, the authors include

• A comprehensive, historical survey of drug use
• An exploration of the evolutionary basis of drug-taking behavior
• Historically and culturally based explanations of drug use and abuse
• Inclusive approaches that complement mainstream biopsychosocial perspectives

Designed for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students in psychology, counseling, sociology, social work, and health departments, Substance Use and Abuse: Cultural and Historical Perspectives will also be of significant interest to drug clinicians, researchers, and social scientists.

Implementation strategies for Portugal1s new drug use policy This report analyzes Portugal1s recently changed national drug strategy, develops recommendations for its implementation, and offers analysis for evaluating its effects. Portugal1s strategy seeks to decriminalize possession and consumption of all drugs for personal use, reduce drug harm and risks, and offer prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. The authors examine the history of Portugal1s drug problem over the past 75 years in light of the existing literature on drugs and drug abuse.

U.S. policy toward Colombia has been driven to a large extent by counter-narcotics considerations, but the evolving situation in that South American country confronts the United States with as much of a national security as a drug policy problem.

New research has shown that children exposed to cocaine before birth are at risk of learning and behavioral problems. Such problems have broad implications for education, social welfare, and criminal justice in the United States. However, there are numerous opportunities to minimize prenatal cocaine exposure and its impacts and thus to enhance the well-being of women and their children. This report, a collaborative effort of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and the New York Academy of Sciences, presents an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of cocaine on the developing brain and offers policy considerations for addressing the issues that arise from cocaine use by pregnant women. The report discusses three prevention strategies: primary prevention (preventing substance use before and during pregnancy); secondary prevention (identifying pregnant women who use drugs and minimizing their drug use); and tertiary prevention (reducing the adverse consequences of substance exposure in children who were exposed in utero). In addition, the report presents a number of areas where more research is needed and offers a rationale for making more resources available for women and children affected by cocaine. (JD)

" This important book reveals why the young start smoking and why, as adults, they regret having started. It is a great contribution to helping end a national epidemic."

? CHERYL HEALTON, President/CEO, American Legacy Foundation

? MATTHEW MYERS, President, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids

Do individuals really know and understand the risks entailed by their smoking decisions? The question is particularly important in the case of young persons, because most smokers start during childhood and adolescence. After years of intense publicity about the damages of smoking, it is generally believed that every teenager and adult in the U.S. knows that smoking is dangerous to health, thus decisions to smoke are informed choices. This book presents a counter-view, based on a survey of several thousand young persons and adults, probing attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and perceptions of risk associated with smoking. The authors agree that young smokers give little or no thought to health risks or the problems of addiction. The survey data contradicts the model of informed, rational choice and underscores the need for aggressive policies to counter tobacco firms? marketing and promotional efforts and to restrict youth access to tobacco.

This book presents a culturally informed framework for understanding and treating substance abuse problems. From expert contributors, chapters cover specific ethnocultural groups in the United States, including Americans of African, Native American, Latino, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian descent. Authors examine how ethnocultural factors may affect a person's attitudes toward alcohol and other drugs, patterns of substance use, reasons for seeking treatment, and responsiveness to various interventions. Themes addressed include the impact of migration and acculturation issues, spiritual values and traditions, family structures, gender roles, and experiences of prejudice and discrimination. Featuring a wealth of illustrative clinical material, the book makes concrete recommendations for more competent, effective assessment and intervention. It also guides clinicians toward greater awareness of the ways their own ethnocultural backgrounds may affect their interactions with clients.

When smokers inhale smoke into their lungs, they take the drug nicotine into their bodies and brains, where it affects how the smokers feel and act. When smokers display their cigarettes, they are saying something symbolic and personal about themselves. And when smokers smoke, they put themselves at risk, often knowingly, of early disability or death.

Smoking is one of the world?s most pressing public health problems. Cigarettes, Nicotine, and Health reviews the severe problems caused by smoking and examines individual and public health approaches to reducing smoking and its attendant health problems. Cigarettes are the most popular, most addictive, and most deadly form of tobacco use, with cigarette design contributing directly to the dangers of smoking; most of the book focuses on this predominant form of nicotine use.

Concept-based therapeutic communities emerged out of the informal group meetings of Charles Dederich and a number of former Alcoholics Anonymous members in California in the late 1950s. The model was exported worldwide and has not only become the most widely used approach to residential treatment but has proved enormously influential in the development of many other treatment approaches; both residential and ambulatory. Concept-based therapeutic communities are hierarchical, and the staff and residents form a chain of command. Staff are often qualified for their work by virtue of having been residents in such a community themselves. Like other types of therapeutic community, a central tenet of the approach is the emphasis on self help and the belief in the influence of the group dynamic in facilitating therapeutic interventions. Written by academics and practitioners from around the world, this is a comprehensive overview of the development of therapeutic communities and their benefits in the treatment of drug users. Contributors describe how the model operates in the community, and how it has been modified over time to fit different settings, different types of client and different referral requirements. Illustrated by descriptions of staff and client experiences, this book also provides an inside view of how this sort of therapeutic community actually operates. This authoritative study concludes by examining the research evidence for treatment effectiveness. It will be of interest to policy makers, managers and researchers in the field of drug abuse treatment.

Written in a clear, informative, and easy to follow manner, Dual Diagnosis is an important book on one of the hottest topics in mental health today. After opening chapters on general issues and problems with dual diagnosis, the book follows with in-depth discussions on major illnesses and analyzes the issues relevant to each when drug abuse is involved, as well as discussing the empirically validated treatment approaches available. The book closes with a summary and integration of the conclusions from earlier chapters and presents a grid showing the relationships between certain disorders and the processes of change that have been shown or theorized to be particularly helpful in their treatment. This is a book that will be extremely useful to practicing professionals in mental health and substance abuse fields, as well as students in psychology and drug abuse.

American Journal of Nursing, 2001 Book of the Year Award in Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing

Developed by a highly experienced author working in both nursing and psychology environments, Addiction Treatment presents the caregiver with a brief global perspective of different types of addictions, techniques for identifying and assessing the addicted client, and strategies for effective change. The book utilizes assessment, planning, and intervention summaries to enable the reader to scan for immediate recall and application. Chapter objectives enable readers to use the book as a continuing education tool, and the appendix provides an overview of perspectives on addiction and its treatment by a variety of organizations heavily invested in the care of the addicted client. Illustrative cases (with both successful and unsuccessful outcomes) are included throughout.

Drawing on the latest findings from developmental, psychobiological, and social scientific research, DeGrandpre "criticizes America's obsession with performance and quick satisfaction and the country's reliance on Ritalin [as] a performance-enhancing drug" (Natural Health). He cautions that our society-wide rush to more, and faster, stimulation leaves children especially vulnerable to "sensory addictions." Ritalin Nation exposes the shortsightedness of mere biological explanations of ADD and offers some practical guidelines for cultivating a less-hurried existence and promoting a saner, safer community for our children.

Do you work with addicted women? How can you help them to get sober and to lead healthier lives? What are the issues women face as they work through problems with substance abuse? How does motherhood influence the recovery process? To what extent do relationships support or undermine a woman?s efforts to overcome alcoholism or other addiction?

This book answers these and other questions surrounding the effective treatment of women addicts. It offers hands-on practical guidance to counselors, nurses, social workers, and others who help women along the journey from substance abuse to healthy and fulfilling lives.

With the aim of showing how educators can use their skills to inform practical action on problematic drug issues, this text identifies the drug issues emerging in the classroom and highlights strategies for dealing with them.

Harm reduction programs accept the reality of drug use while attempting to reduce its harmful consequences to individuals and society. This term, coined about 15 years ago in the U.K., has become a policy paradigm increasingly explored throughout most of the industrialized world. An example of a harm reduction program is the widely accepted substitution of methadone for the more "harmful" heroin. Programs that divert drug-involved offenders into treatment are another example of the operationalization of harm reduction policies.

In these 10 original chapters, international contributors discuss the philosophical basis and history of harm reduction policies and examine their outcome. They also cover controversial topics related to harm reduction, especially conflicts between the public health system where most programs are located, and a worldwide criminal justice system that further marginalizes drug users. Included in this book are descriptions of programs in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia.

The editors provide the context with a substantive introductory chapter focusing on the nature of harm reduction. The first part contains five chapters presenting the American perspectives on harm reduction; Part II includes five chapters presenting international perspectives from countries with particularly innovative harm reduction programs and policies.

This instructive manual presents a pragmatic and clinically proven approach to the prevention and treatment of undergraduate alcohol abuse. The BASICS model is a nonconfrontational, harm reduction approach that helps students reduce their alcohol consumption gradually and decrease the behavioural and health risks associated with heavy drinking. Including numerous reproducible handouts and assessment forms, the book takes readers step-by-step through conducting BASICS assessment and feedback sessions. Special topics covered include the use of DSM-IV criteria to evaluate alcohol abuse, ways to counter student defensiveness about drinking, and obtaining additional treatment for students with severe alcohol dependency.

Adolescent alcohol use is prominent among today?s teens and has elicited rising concerns among parents, health practitioners, social policymakers, and the public at large. Yet there is an absence of a relatively concise book that summarizes and integrates existing knowledge on the various facets of adolescent alcohol use. This book attempts to fill this void by integrating research from the multiple fields of study (e.g., prevalence of use), describing measurement approaches (e.g., survey and clinical diagnostic), reviewing risk and protective factors, reporting on findings from prominent prevention and treatment studies, and suggesting future research directions. The coverage is intended to examine issues relevant to etiology, developmental courses, and prevention and treatment, as well as to identify future research directions.

This brief and readable volume focuses on five case studies in judicial innovation - the dedicated drug treatment courts in Miami, Oakland, Ft. Lauderdale, Portland, and Phoenix. Each case is presented in a chapter written by a local expert to describe and evaluate five prime examples of dedicated drug treatment courts. Editor W. Clinton Terry, III introduces this volume with a chapter that covers judicial innovation and dedicated drug courts, revealing that dedicated courts are unique because of their focus on treatment; the nontraditional, collaborative approach to treatment; and monitoring of by the judiciary. As Terry emphasizes, the court becomes an integral part of the treatment process itself, not just a referral point for offenders. The subsequent chapters are written to a common outline, creating a tightly edited and cohesive volume that addresses the following points: - Community demographics - Structural organization of the court - Court caseloads, including drug cases - Description of the initial decision to implement dedicated drug treatment courts - Successes and failures of initial goals and objectives, and subsequent adaptations - Measures of long-term successes and failures (recidivism and successful completion of treatment programs) The concluding chapter, written by John Goldkamp, a proven researcher of drug courts, synthesizes the research from the evaluation of the exemplar courts, and examines other areas of possible research that would provide a firmer understanding about these courts - all of which speaks to the continued development and refinement of dedicated drug treatment courts. With approximately one billion dollars in federal monies earmarked for the creation of drug courts, this unique book offers a road map to the effective utilization of those funds.

Society's drug problem will persist, and debates over how to solve it will continue, getting nowhere, until we define our terms. This book is an effort to do just that -- to parse the legal, moral, and philosophical underpinnings for any discussion of drug policy.

Does liberal political theory, with its commitment to individual freedom, offer any guidance in the matter of drugs, particularly regarding their legal status? Do the commitments that citizens of liberal democracies make -- commitments to ideals such as rationality, equality, justice, and democratic forms of decision-making -- have implications for drug policy? These are the questions addressed in this volume, which explores the possibilities and limitations of philosophical reflection on this pressing, practical social issue.

The authors, distinguished political and legal philosophers, search out the justification of policies that manage problems of drug consumption and social disintegration, but do so in keeping with the moral and political commitments of a liberal democratic society. Their subjects range from the rationality or irrationality of drug consumption to the scope of liberty; from the proper aims of legislation to the rhetoric of the war on drugs, particularly as deployed by former "Drug Czar" William Bennett.

Recently, the Research Triangle Institute completed a five-year study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse called The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DC*MADS). The study attempted to look at the nature and extent of drug abuse among diverse populations living in a single metropolitan area, focusing particularly on underrepresented populations such as the homeless, the institutionalized, and juvenile offenders along with populations that have been studied in more depth, such as persons living in households. The goal was to not only establish prevalence, correlates, and consequences of drug abuse, but to establish a research model for conducting other such studies. Drug Use in Metropolitan America describes, relates, and integrates findings from the DC*MADS study. More than that, though, this book places the findings in the larger context of our national drug abuse problem. Therefore, while there is some reporting of findings, there is more emphasis on examining the policy, research, and program implications that flow from the studies. This book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in a number of areas, as well as to academics in Sociology courses dealing with drugs, deviance, social problems, and research methodology. It should also appeal to those concerned with Psychology and Medicine/Allied Health.

The problems of substance abuse affect not only the abuser but the people involved in his or her life. Family members and significant others often confront therapists, requesting recommendations on how they can contribute to the abusers recovery. The traditional attitude of therapists has been that the substance abuser cannot be helped until he or she is motivated. Therefore, significant others have typically been given little advice or guidance. Family Recovery offers clinicians a structured, research-based approach to working with significant others involved with substance abusers. Unilateral family therapy offers methods for therapists to improve the well-being of concerned significant others of substance abusers and to teach them how to restructure their relationship to the abuser in ways that may enhance the substance abuser's motivation to change. Family Recovery will be useful to both experienced clinicians and those who are training to be clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, family therapists, and substance abuse counselors.

The first volume to provide access to information on drug treatment systems from a wide cross-section of 20 countries, Drug Treatment Systems in an International Perspective examines the ways in which other counties from around the world have chosen to cope with the spread of illicit drugs. Now health planners and administrators, treatment professionals, researchers, and students can place the development of their own treatment systems in a wider context and can examine the extent to which that development shares common structural features with those of other countries and cultures. Following a comparative discussion of the various countries, the volume addresses four key issues: gender specific treatment, the politics of financing and evaluation, the private sector and state control, and exporting drug treatment ideologies. It provides a comparative and cross-cultural perspective on drug treatment approaches today and examines the influence of social, political, and economic forces on the treatment of drug addicts. In addition, the editors have included a handy glossary, which explains key terms unfamiliar to readers outside the particular country. Providing and interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective to drug treatment, Drug Treatment Systems in an International Perspective will be of interest academics, students, and professionals in psychology, especially those focusing on clinical psychology, addiction, dependency, and treatment. It will also be of great interest to public health planners and administrators.

It is difficult to understand how society could have failed to recognize that children in abusive situations often live in families in which alcohol and other drugs are abused. Aimed at fostering more discussion between practitioners and scholars, this book explores unified approaches for prevention of and treatment for children and their parents who find themselves in these circumstances. The multidisciplinary cast of contributors probes such topics as the history of abusive behavior and intoxication using literary examples to illustrate key points; the research literature on drug-exposed children in the child welfare system and the interventions that facilitate their optimum development; the legislative and policy contexts in which potential collaborations between the fields of substance abuse and child welfare are being developed or abandoned; the damaging effects that parental and family substance abuse add to a host of child welfare problems; the need for clinicians to develop a sound therapeutic foundation to enhance their effectiveness with clients; and the search for solutions within drug-abuse treatment systems to develop services that improve the quality of life for children living with a drug-dependent parent. In addition, many contributors use writing devices to enhance comprehension of the issues. For example, one contributor uses a metaphor to examine what is important in the fields of substance abuse and child welfare, how we would begin to link them, what the stresses on this bridge would be, and why anyone would want to cross it. And, another contributor uses examples of successful collaborative efforts to examine the institutional, professional, and interpersonal barriers to collaboration between the fields of child welfare and substance abuse as well as the principles for overcoming these barriers. The book concludes with a provocative chapter that reminds us that not all substance abusers are child abusers. This book will help readers identify promising approaches to improve our nation?s health and the gaps that need to be bridged in order for meaningful improvement to occur.