The Praeger International Collection on Addictions - 9780275996055

In this four-volume set for professionals and lay readers, experts from around the world highlight the latest issues and research into addictions of all kinds. The set emphasizes multicultural and international issues in addiction, and covers common topics, such as alcohol abuse and cocaine addiction, as well as addiction to caffeine, pornography, and shopping, highlighting biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and public health perspectives. Volume I offers a sampling of the depth and breadth of addiction and addiction studies today and in the past. Early US drug policy, addiction as a public health issue, cross-cultural issues in research into addiction, and adolescent drug sellers are some topics examined. This section presents background on patterns of alcohol and drug use in six countries, and overviews the epidemiology, rates, and treatment of five specific substances, including alcohol and tobacco. Volume II surveys some of the psychological and biological aspects of addiction, with chapters on co-occurring trauma and substance use disorders, the role of allergies in addictions and mental illness, neurobiological mechanisms and cognitive components of addiction, and the endocannabinoid hypothesis of drug addition. Volume III samples a range of traditional and alternative approaches, with chapters on the social construction of drug policy, shamanistic harm reduction practices, prison inmate peer mentor programs, and clinical applications of ketamine for treating alcoholism. Behavioral addictions are explored in Volume IV, with material on work addiction, addiction to television and video games, and youth gambling prevention. Contributors include psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors, and clergy. Browne-Miller directs the Metaxis Compulsive and habitual Behaviors Institute. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)