Self-help organizations across the world have attracted millions of individuals seeking to address addiction problems with drugs or alcohol. This book provides an integrative, international review of research that focuses on how these organizations affect individual members and whether self-help groups and formal health care systems can work together to combat substance abuse. In addition, it offers practical strategies for individual clinicians and treatment systems on how to interact with self-help organizations.

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Addiction is a subject which straddles public and personal interests; societal and criminal justice concerns; and family, social, and medical responses. It is a continuing area of uncertainty and concern for society and professionals trained in the field. This Very Short Introduction presents the basic facts about addiction: what it is, how and why it develops, how it is treated, and how society can respond to it. Addictions to both illicit drugs and licit drugs (e.g., alcohol) are covered, as is the possibility that certain behaviours not involving drug use (e.g., compulsive gambling) can qualify as addictions. Keith Humphreys provides a jargon-free account of our present understanding of addiction, from treatment evaluations to studies on the effects of public policies. He also illuminates the personal experience of addiction and recovery. Humphreys considers why some people become addicted and others do not, what treatments exist to help people who are addicted, and how the laws and regulations society establishes about drugs affects the rate and experience of addiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Self-help organizations across the world, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Croix D'Or, The Links, Moderation Management, Narcotics Anonymous, and SMART Recovery, have attracted tens of millions of individuals seeking to address addiction problems with drugs or alcohol. This book provides an integrative, international review of research on these organizations, focusing in particular on the critical questions of how they affect individual members and whether self-help groups and formal health care systems can work together to combat substance abuse. Keith Humphreys reviews over 500 studies into the efficacy of self-help groups as an alternative and voluntary form of treatment. In addition to offering a critical review of the international body of research in this area, he provides practical strategies for how individual clinicians and treatment systems can interact with self-help organizations in a way that improves outcomes for patients and for communities as a whole.

Illegal psychoactive substances and illicit prescription drugs are currently used on a daily basis all over the world. Affecting public health and social welfare, illicit drug use is linked to disease, disability, and social problems. Faced with an increase in usage, national and global policymakers are turning to addiction science for guidance on how to create evidence-based drug policy. Drug Policy and the Public Good is an objective analytical basis on which to build global drug policies. It presents the accumulated scientific knowledge on drug use in relation to policy development on a national and international level. By also revealing new epidemiological data on the global dimensions of drug misuse, it questions existing regulations and highlights the growing need for evidence-based, realistic, and coordinated drug policy. A critical review of cumulative scientific evidence, Drug Policy and the Public Good discusses four areas of drug policy; primary prevention programs in schools and other settings; supply reduction programs, including legal enforcement and drug interdiction; treatment interventions and harm reduction approaches; and control of the legal market through prescription drug regimes. In addition, it analyses the current state of global drug policy, and advocates improvements in the drafting of public health policy. Drug Policy and the Public Good is a global source of information and inspiration for policymakers involved in public health and social welfare. Presenting new research on illicit and prescription drug use, it is also an essential tool for academics, and a significant contribution to the translation of addiction research into effective drug policy.

Presenting state-of-the-art, accessible reviews of the expanding science of alcohol treatment, integrated with down to earth, practical guides to the management of a wide range of clinical situations, this new edition is compassionate toward patients, optimistic about treatment, and candid about the clinical and professional challenges embedded in the treatment endeavour. The coverage updates the science that has occurred in the half-decade since the last edition, most notably in the areas of neuroscience, neuroimaging and pharmacotherapy, and includes expanded discussion of historical and public policy forces that have shaped the alcohol treatment field. The book recognizes that drinking problems occur across all social structures and cannot be neatly confined to the specialist addiction treatment sector. This text is relevant to all those working to help those with a drinking problem, meeting the needs of general medical practitioners, psychiatrists and other medical specialists, nurses, psychotherapists, counselors, psychologists, alcohol support workers, social workers and occupational therapists, amongst others.

A book for the adventurous but time-pressed traveller seeking to experience the real Calcutta in a way few others will. The narrative takes you far from any tourist trail and plunges you deep into the heart of Calcutta, seen through its teeming backstreets and byways; its people and endearing idiosyncrasies Set against a backdrop of the City's social and historical development, all life is here; colourful, vibrant, relentless and inescapable.

This wandering odyssey through the City's pullulating backstreets and serpentine byways reveals a Calcutta rarely glimpsed by western travellers. Arranged as a series of journeys on foot through the older quarters of the City seldom trod by outsiders, the narrative chronicles the topography, social and historical background and the vibrant street life and characters which give Calcutta its uniqueness. Complete with detailed directions and street maps for the areas explored, the book provides a storehouse of indispensable information for the intrepid traveller.