This authoritative work comprehensively examines all aspects of addictive disorders and their treatment. Leading researchers and practitioners identify best practices in assessment and diagnosis and provide tools for working with users of specific substances. Issues in working with particular populations--including polysubstance abusers, culturally diverse patients, women, and older adults--are addressed, and widely used psychosocial and pharmacological treatment approaches are reviewed. An indispensable text for anyone studying or treating these prevalent, challenging disorders, the book describes ways to tailor interventions to each patient’s needs while delivering compassionate, evidence-based care.

This volume addresses the general problem of drug addiction from several points of view, which are in some ways quite unique and different from other areas of pharmacology. Drug addiction is closely associated with criminal behavior. One of the great and noble edifices of civilization is the philosophic and ethical view that man is perfectible, and some believe that this can be achieved by providing the appropriate circumstance or environment in which man can mature and be educated. Some have postulated that drug abuse is a consequence of an inadequate or pathologic set of socializing experiences or is a consequence of basic conflicts between the values and accepted patterns of behavior of a subculture and that of a larger culture. The degree to which man is malleable and perfectible by social forces is not known nor do we know the true desirability of socializing individuals to the extent that their behavior does not deviate from social norms. Some deviancy is essential for innovation and creativity, and at times there may be difficulties in determining whether an innovator or creator is exhibiting sociopathic behavior or not. This aspect of drug addiction is inherently a matter of social values and ethics.