PsychoNeuroPlasticity Protocols for Addictions: A Clinical Companion for the Big Book is a book that represents a tipping point in the translation of addiction science into practical, real-world applications for practitioners. It translates brain research into patient deliverables by explaining how to use the brain to fight addiction and improve recovery outcomes. It does so while embracing the long-standing recovery culture that has been the only source of hope for addicts and alcoholics in the past fifty years. The contents of the book reveal the transformational aspects of recovery along with the scientific principles of what Dr. Lawlis has coined as “PsychoNeuroPlasticity,” along with many of the barriers to transformation. More specifically it covers brain patterns that relate to depression, anxiety, OCD, mood and even brain development issues noted in premature development of adjustment in young addicts. The approaches are not singular in nature, but cover a wide range of effective modes of treatment, including diet, exercise, meditation, and biofeedback. The reader and treatment specialist will be re-energized by witnessing the changes in patient care, staff training, and outcomes. Digging deeper, however, this book is about hope—hope that the work of two decades of brain science will finally reach those who need it most; hope that we finally have a tool that will give us a true advantage in the war on addiction; and hope that lives lost to this disease every year will someday be stymied.

IN HIS TIMELY BOOK, RONALD R. PARKS, MPH, MD, EXAMINES THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 OR OTHER FORMS OF CRISIS, LOSS, OR TRAGEDY ON INDIVIDUAL MENTAL HEALTH. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many have experienced extreme personal loss and are suffering responses, not unlike those faced by survivors of natural disasters. Dr. Parks’ health interests began as a child growing up in rural Maryland. After developing a high fever and stiff neck, he was diagnosed with polio and rushed to City Hospital for Children. The experience changed his life forever. This book focuses on a holistic approach to mental health during times of significant crises and challenges. Topics covered include grief and loss, anxiety, depression, addictions, pandemic fear; how to recognize early signs of mental health difficulties and their origins; coping and finding the help you need; and ways of regaining health, balance, stability, and longevity. The book has an upbeat style that’ll energize your mind and refresh your ability to carry on through troubling times. In his timely book, Ronald R. Parks, MPH, MD examines the impact of COVID-19 or other forms of crisis, loss, or tragedy on individual mental health. From his perspective as a Board-certified psychiatrist, a holistic healthcare consultant, and a caring, concerned teacher, He offers helpful insights and suggestions designed to empower those with ongoing emotional challenges and those who want to maintain optimum mental and physical health. Blending research, historical events, and his own life experience, Dr. Parks has created an easy-to-understand, practical guide to help readers not only to survive but to thrive during troubling times. The essential step is to identify early signs of emotional and psychological dysfunction or impending break-down. The book’s educative and guidance content stresses the value of holistic awareness and actions for both insight and inspiration. Readers will gain a clearer perspective of mental health issues that happen with the demands and unexpected changes or challenges that can occur to anyone. Many key elements play into our overall mental health and sense of wellbeing. Utilizing a multi-faceted approach, this book imparts valuable wisdom while covering essential topics related to mental health challenges, holistic medicine, psychology, spiritual awakening, meditation, and other tried and true self-help techniques. Important preventative and intervention tips are succinctly presented for your help. Most people are not just facing the Pandemic—many have experienced the personal loss of loved ones, worsening or the start of emotional or mental health challenges, addictions, trauma, and loss of purpose and meaning. Navigating so much hardship weighs heavily on our psyche, but this book reminds us that we can persevere and awaken to a deeper understanding of ourselves, others, and the spirit of life. This book covers a diversity of topics related to mental and emotional health, surviving times of crisis as the current COVID pandemic, finding holistic ways of coping, surviving during times of exceptional challenges or catastrophic situations, and reducing disease risk during tough times. There’s no shame in getting help when you need support.

There is hardly a family in the post-industrial world that hasn't been affected in some way by addiction. Yet seeking treatment for a struggling loved one is, for most people, a frightening and overwhelming prospect. Ending Addiction for Good offers a powerful message of hope. Drawing on their own histories of addiction recovery, authors Taite and Scharff examine the unique and highly successful treatment protocol practiced at the Cliffside Malibu Addiction Treatment Center. Using clear and direct language, they look beyond the limits of conventional treatment to show how creating an individualized, evidence-based, and integrated approach that targets the whole person - mind, body, and spirit - not just the addiction, can provide a sure path to recovery. In doing so, they empower both the addict and the families of addicts to begin their recovery. Ending Addiction for Good may well be the most important book dealing with alcoholism and drug addiction to come along in years.

Offers guidance on not only recovering from addictions, but transcending them, including how to avoid victim mentality, how to make full use of your personal power, and more.

In this extended essay, experts address both the recovery and the long-term goal of healing from addiction, arguing that a full cure from drug addiction or habitual addiction can be achieved. Combining both the principles of systemic therapy and experience gained through years of counseling, they have developed a unique model called “in-depth systemic” therapy, which extends the classic model by introducing and expanding on the mental dimension. The central point of this work is the thesis that addicts themselves have to reorganize and restructure their own habitual ways of perception and cognition, with Vipassana meditation serving as the instrument to realize this transformation. Vipassana comprises an ethical lifestyle, concentration of the mind through meditation, and working progressively on one’s one mental-somatic models, offering a unique and successful approach to the treatment of addiction.

Harness the natural rhythms already present within us and the world, which are so basic and instinctual to who we are as humans, and experience a lifetime of balance and wholeness. Dr. Frank Lawlis’s evidence-based methods are centered around connecting to healing rhythms—in our body, in nature, and in the universe. These tools and exercises interrupt pain and illness signals to encourage coping, healing, and thriving alike. Draw on the powerful effects of these techniques to engage with your challenges on a daily basis, which over time can increase neurological pathways for full healing so you can return to wellness, rebuild your relationships, and leave illness behind to live in a way that is enhanced by your own inner resources.

Humans are biologically programmed to seek out pleasurable experiences. These experiences are processed in the mesolimbic system, also referred to as the "reward center" of the brain, where a number of chemical messengers work in concert to provide a net release of dopamine in the Nucleus Accumbens. In some genetically predisposed individuals, addiction occurs when the mechanisms of the mesolimbic system are disrupted by the use of various drugs of abuse. Since Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935, it's 12 step program of spiritual and character development has helped countless alcoholics and drug addicts curb their self-destructive behaviors. However, the program was developed at a time when comparatively little was known about the function of the brain and it has never been studied scientifically. This is the first book to take a systematic look at the molecular neurobiology associated with each of the 12 steps and to review the significant body of addiction research literature that is pertinent to the program.​