Provides a thorough understanding of the nature and scope of incareration.

Methamphetamine, made easily in clandestine labs from over-the-counter ingredients, can cause depression, rapid tooth decay, psychosis, sensations of flesh crawling with bugs, paranoia, skin lesions, and kidney damage. Still, use has spread nationwide. In this work, two experts on methamphetamine addiction and recovery explain why this drug has such a physical, psychological, and social draw for addicts, despite all the damage it causes. Vignettes from addicts take us inside the subculture of meth users. Authors Taylor and Covey explain why this drug and its addiction is different from other illicit drugs and why, therefore, the treatment needs to be specifically tailored in order to be effective. Stephan Jenkins, singer for the band Third Eye Blind, says methamphetamine makes you feel bright and shiny, but it also makes you pathetically and relentlessly self-destructive, so much so that you will do unconscionable things to feel bright and shiny again. This drug, made easily in clandestine labs from over-the-counter ingredients, can also cause depression, rapid tooth decay, psychosis, sensations of flesh crawling with bugs, paranoia, skin lesions, and kidney damage. Still, use has spread nationwide from California to Maine, with known addictions now highest in the West, Midwest, and South. Treatment admissions for methamphetamine addictions have increased more than fivefold in the last decade, with a federal report in 2006 showing 136,000 known cases. Meth is particularly addictive to women because it causes rapid weight loss. The results, as shown in recent cover stories in Newsweek, National Geographic, and USA Today, are pain for far more than the abuser. Meth addiction also ravages life for spouses, children, and other family members, as well as communities. In this work, two experts on methamphetamine addiction and recovery explain why this drug has such a physical, psychological, and social draw for addicts despite all the damage it causes. Vignettes from addicts let us see inside the subculture of meth users. Authors Taylor and Covey explain why this drug and its addiction is different from other illicit drugs, and therefore why the treatment needs to be specifically tailored in order to be effective. This book, focused only on the addiction avenues and paths to recovery, is a perfect companion to Covey's earlier book, The Metehamphetamine Crisis (Praeger, 2006), which details the emergence and history of this drug use in the United States, as well as the social and community effects, and criminal justice approaches, successes, and failures to date. This book at hand will appeal to meth abusers, their families, and professionals trying to aid recovery from this new scourge, including substance abuse treatment providers, health professionals, psychologists, school personnel, and criminal justice staff.

Women, Girls, and Addiction is the first book on the efficacy of treatment approaches and interventions that are tailored to working with addicted women, and the first publication of any kind to provide a feminist approach to understanding the experience of addiction from the female perspective. Part I of the book provides an overview of feminist theory and addiction counseling, followed by an historical look at women and addiction (research, treatment, demographics). The three chapters in part two give an in-depth look at the biological, psychological, and social factors of the experience of addiction as unique in women. The final section of the book presents a series of chapters spanning the lifespan, which each feature age-specific special issues, treatment strategies, interventions, and commonly encountered topics in therapy with the population.

“Addiction Reimagined: Challenging Views of an Enduring Social Problem” outlines the current issues in the field of substance use and addiction by thoroughly analyzing its history and other concerns such as diagnosis, treatment, and prevention measures, or the effect of addiction on the family and its connection to the criminal justice system. In this work, Professor Steverson calls for a reimagining of our past and current understandings of addiction and its role as a social, rather than a medical, problem. “Addiction Reimagined” provides a macro-level (i.e. sociological) approach to the examination of the processes and treatment modalities of addiction. This book will be valuable to those who are interested in addiction and the mental health system (people who have addiction problems or policy makers, for instance) as well as to practitioners in the field and people concerned about a failing system, and who would like to make it more functional. It will also be useful to university students undertaking courses such as The Sociology of Addiction or Sociology of Substance Abuse.

What is addiction, and how do we know if we are addicted? Speaking sociologically, we are addicted because we live in addictive societies that turn us into consumers and materialists. Speaking biologically, we are addicted because that is how we are hardwired. Speaking spiritually, we are addicted because we seek spiritual satisfaction through things other than God. Humans can be addicted to most any object, ideology, and belief, but they cannot be addicted to the true God, for reasons disclosed in this text. As this book demonstrates, addiction is a pattern of learned behavior that utilizes ancient mental pathways designed to promote survival and reproduction. When neural connections intended to promote eating, reproduction, parenting, and social relationships are diverted into addiction, their blessings can become curses. While heredity, parenting, trauma, and additional psychological and sociological factors play significant roles in compulsive behavior, addiction is essentially a developmental disorder, a way to manage an environment that feels threatening and overwhelming. Change (getting unstuck) is possible, but it requires five ingredients: acknowledgment, resolution, substitution, human help, and divine help. Because addictions represent complex interactions between biological, psychological, social, and spiritual forces, the solution must be holistic as well. Designed as a study guide for groups or individual use, this book approaches the topic comprehensively, examining the nature of addiction; its cause, symptoms, consequences, and means of recovery.

The purpose of this book is to introduce a true introspection of the inner workings of the mind and reality of the author and his journey from poverty, drug addiction, mental illness, imprisonment and homelessness to a successful self-made expert and professional entrepreneur in the field of mental/behavioral healthcare and addictions services. The book is a testament that treatment when empathic, genuine, spiritual, eclectic and most important, culturally sensitive, works. This book is the authors testimony that recovery is not only possible but limitless. The author has studied and learned from some of the best minds in his field and has developed a style and approach to treatment all his own. He is the founder and chief executive officer of a State Licensed Ambulatory Care Center that has evolved into a comprehensive system of care from prevention/intervention to tertiary care and recovery supports. This book is the beginning of the recording of a transformative phenomenon that will be used to save hundreds of thousands even millions of lives. This book is a part of the author’s mission. Which is to see a day when treatment for mental illness, behavior healthcare and substance use disorder is no longer needed and health, wellness, fairness, equity, safety and righteous human conduct is commonplace. Please read this book, keep an open mind and enjoy the journey to New Life!

The book is a practical guide to caring for individuals with substance use disorder. Written for generalists and non-addiction specialists, this new edition emphasizes compassionate, non-stigmatizing, patient-focused care.