A Clinical Guide To Alcohol And Drug Problems

This book is written specifically for family or primary care physicians who encounter substance abuse in their daily practice. A Clinical Guide to Drug and Alcohol Problems provides a comprehensive overview to help diagnose and treat these problems. The first five chapters provide basic information on historical and cultural issues, plus the pharmacology of all abused drugs the physician is likely to come into contact with and the epidemiology and etiology of substance abuse problems. The author then addresses the clinical manifestions and course of addiction; diagnostic techniques; principles of clinical management, treatment, and rehabilitation of addictive and other associated medical disorders; and guidelines for public health approaches to the problem.

This book is the first complete guide to implementing the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), an empirically based, highly effective cognitive-behavioral program for treating alcohol problems. CRA acknowledges the powerful role of environmental contingencies in encouraging or discouraging drinking, and attempts to rearrange these contingencies so that a non-drinking lifestyle is more rewarding than a drinking one. Unique in its breadth, the approach utilizes social, recreational, familial, and vocational strategies to aid clients in the recovery process. This authoritative manual is a hands-on guide to applying these therapeutic procedures. The authors present a step-by-step guide to each component of the treatment plan, many of which have been shown to be effective forms of treatment in themselves. Topics include behavioral skills training, social and recreational counseling, marital therapy, motivational enhancement, job counseling, and relapse prevention. Each chapter provides detailed instructions for conducting a procedure, describes what difficulties to expect, and presents strategies for overcoming them. Sample dialogues between clients and therapists, annotated by the authors, further illuminate the treatment process. The book concludes with a chapter that both addresses the common mistakes made when implementing CRA, and emphasizes the flexibility and benefits of this total treatment plan. This book is an invaluable resource for a wide range of practitioners including psychologists, psychiatrists, substance abuse counselors, and social workers.

Mark Schuckit’s Drug and Alcohol Abuse has been a clinical mainstay for over a quarter century. Now the author’s trusted expertise is available in a new Sixth Edition, thoroughly revised for content, updated references, and streamlined for increased usefulness. Schuckit combines his experience as practitioner, researcher, and teacher to give professionals and students across the health and mental health disciplines a working knowledge of drug-related pathology, beginning with pharmacology, drug mechanisms, and genetic factors. And the Sixth Edition is as accessible as its predecessors, striking the right comfort level for the classroom or the emergency room. -Clinical/emergency orientation suited to both chronic misuse and acute situations -Coverage reflects current trends in alcohol, drug, and multidrug use, abuse, and dependence -Concise chapters for quick reference -Updated bibliography—approximately 80% of citations are post-2000 -Diagnostic information reflects upcoming changes to the DSM -Latest strategies in treatment (psychological and pharmacological) and rehabilitation All material is organized for ease of use, whether the reader needs fast answers in a crisis, seeks new ideas for helping long-term patients or clients, or is just becoming familiar with the different drug classifications. This new edition offers expanded knowledge of a wide-ranging problem and a growing and clinically important population, and authoritative suggestions for effective care.

When this series was conceived, a book on substance abuse, including alcohol and alcoholism, was to be of highest priority. This priority was a reflection of my view that the subject is often taught inadequately or insufficiently in many training programs. Yet these problems are com monly encountered in clinical practice, and all too often in situations where accurate diagnosis and rapid treatment are of critical importance. We wanted a book that would be concise and easily readable but also comprehensive in its presentation of the basic principles underlying clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and management. It was of particular importance that the book also serve as an easy reference guide in emergency situations. Marc Schuckit, a man with impeccable credentials as a scholar and an experienced clinician in this field, has produced just such a book! Few psychiatrists, psychotherapists, or physicians will want to be without it. The presentation is comprehensive and in depth, yet so clear and well organized that it will also likely be of interest to medical students, nurses, and emergency personnel.

Evidence-Based Treatments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse encompasses the developments in the field over the last decade, blending theory, techniques and clinical flexibility. Research in the past decade has shown that substance abuse and substance dependence are treatable. The field has witnessed the introduction of evidence-based psychological and specific pharmacological treatments. Unfortunately, many of the empirical supported therapies for addictions are still not widely applied by practitioners. The third volume in the Practical Clinical Guidebooks Series (PCG), Evidence-Based Treatments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, defines the characteristics, classification, and prevalence of substance use disorders, and provides the clinician with practical guidelines applicable across a variety of treatment settings and patient groups. Drawing on the recent research in the field, the authors provide the practicing clinician and student with an up-to-date understanding of the epidemiology, etiology, course and prognosis of substance abuse disorders that would be relevant to clinical practice. In addition to describing phenomenology and etiology, the book provides a comprehensive guide to the assessment and treatment of DSM-IV-TR substance abuse disorders (SUDs), including abuse and dependence of alcohol, stimulants, opiates, hallucinogens, cannabis/marijuana, sedative, and party drugs.