Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

All across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care systems are struggling to cope with substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders. Substance misuse and substance use disorders have devastating effects, disrupt the future plans of too many young people, and all too often, end lives prematurely and tragically. Substance misuse is a major public health challenge and a priority for our nation to address. The effects of substance use are cumulative and costly for our society, placing burdens on workplaces, the health care system, families, states, and communities. The Report discusses opportunities to bring substance use disorder treatment and mainstream health care systems into alignment so that they can address a person's overall health, rather than a substance misuse or a physical health condition alone or in isolation. It also provides suggestions and recommendations for action that everyone-individuals, families, community leaders, law enforcement, health care professionals, policymakers, and researchers-can take to prevent substance misuse and reduce its consequences.

Drug abuse persists as one of the most costly and contentious problems on the nation's agenda. Pathways of Addiction meets the need for a clear and thoughtful national research agenda that will yield the greatest benefit from today's limited resources. The committee makes its recommendations within the public health framework and incorporates diverse fields of inquiry and a range of policy positions. It examines both the demand and supply aspects of drug abuse. Pathways of Addiction offers a fact-filled, highly readable examination of drug abuse issues in the United States, describing findings and outlining research needs in the areas of behavioral and neurobiological foundations of drug abuse. The book covers the epidemiology and etiology of drug abuse and discusses several of its most troubling health and social consequences, including HIV, violence, and harm to children. Pathways of Addiction looks at the efficacy of different prevention interventions and the many advances that have been made in treatment research in the past 20 years. The book also examines drug treatment in the criminal justice setting and the effectiveness of drug treatment under managed care. The committee advocates systematic study of the laws by which the nation attempts to control drug use and identifies the research questions most germane to public policy. Pathways of Addiction provides a strategic outline for wise investment of the nation's research resources in drug abuse. This comprehensive and accessible volume will have widespread relevanceâ€"to policymakers, researchers, research administrators, foundation decisionmakers, healthcare professionals, faculty and students, and concerned individuals.

Neuropathology of Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse, Volume One: Foundations of Understanding, Tobacco, Alcohol, Cannabinoids, Opioids and Emerging Addictions provides the latest research in an area that shows that the neuropathological features of one addiction are often applicable to those of others. The book also details how a further understanding of these commonalties can provide a platform for the study of specific addictions in greater depth, all in an effort to create new modes of understanding, causation, prevention, and treatment. The three volumes in this series address new research and challenges, offering comprehensive coverage on the adverse consequences of the most common drugs of abuse, with each volume serving to update the reader's knowledge on the broader field of addiction, while also deepening our understanding of specific addictive substances. Volume One addresses tobacco, alcohol, cannabinoids, and opioids, with each section providing data on the general, molecular/cellular, and structural/functional neurological aspects of a given substance, along with a focus on the adverse consequences of addictions. - Provides a modern approach on the pathology of substances of abuse, offering an evidence based ethos for understanding the neurology of addictions - Fills an existing gap in the literature by proving a one-stop-shopping synopsis of everything to do with the neuropathology of drugs of addiction and substance misuse - Includes a list of abbreviations, abstracts, applications to other addictions and substance misuse, mini-dictionary of terms, summary points, 6+ figures and tables, and full references in each chapter - Offers coverage of preclinical, clinical, and population studies, from the cell to whole organs, and the genome to whole body

Neural Mechanisms of Addiction is the only book available that synthesizes the latest research in the field into a single, accessible resource covering all aspects of how addiction develops and persists in the brain. The book summarizes our most recent understanding on the neural mechanisms underlying addiction. It also examines numerous biobehavioral aspects of addiction disorders, such as reinforcement learning, reward, cognitive dysfunction, stress, and sleep and circadian rhythms that are not covered in any other publication. Readers with find the most up-to-date information on which to build a foundation for their future research in this expanding field. Combining chapters from leading researchers and thought leaders, this book is an indispensable guide for students and investigators engaged in addiction research. - Transcends multiple neural, neurochemical and behavioral domains - Summarizes advances in the field of addiction research since the advent of optogenetics - Discusses the most current, leading theories of addiction, including molecular mechanisms and dopamine mechanisms

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More people than ever before see themselves as addicted to, or recovering from, addiction, whether it be alcohol or drugs, prescription meds, sex, gambling, porn, or the internet. But despite the unprecedented attention, our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas, addiction as a crime or as brain disease, and in equally outdated treatment. Challenging both the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and the notion of a simple "addictive personality," The New York Times Bestseller, Unbroken Brain, offers a radical and groundbreaking new perspective, arguing that addictions are learning disorders and shows how seeing the condition this way can untangle our current debates over treatment, prevention and policy. Like autistic traits, addictive behaviors fall on a spectrum -- and they can be a normal response to an extreme situation. By illustrating what addiction is, and is not, the book illustrates how timing, history, family, peers, culture and chemicals come together to create both illness and recovery- and why there is no "addictive personality" or single treatment that works for all. Combining Maia Szalavitz's personal story with a distillation of more than 25 years of science and research,Unbroken Brain provides a paradigm-shifting approach to thinking about addiction. Her writings on radical addiction therapies have been featured in The Washington Post, Vice Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, in addition to multiple other publications. She has been interviewed about her book on many radio shows including Fresh Air with Terry Gross and The Brian Lehrer show.