This book presents a new approach to covering the basic principles and major topics found in a typical psychopharmacology course, while adding the newest exciting and controversial findings in the study of drug use, misuse and abuse. Included in this text are major drugs typically covered in an undergraduate psychopharmacology course, including caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines including methamphetamine, alcohol, opiates, marijuana, the hallucinogens, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and antianxiety medications. Moreover, the content emphasizes the latest scientific findings in the field, including advances in imaging the living brain.

This text focuses on the under-recognized and undertreated problem of addiction in later life. The widespread lack of clinical knowledge about this patient population can be traced to several sources: the systematic exclusion of older individuals from clinical trials; their reluctance to seek medical help owing to stigma and shame; the fact that additive disorders may be disguised by concurrent medical conditions; a lack of screening instruments tailored to an older population; and the low sensitivity of standard diagnostic criteria for detecting addiction in middle-aged and elderly adults who do not display the occupational and legal "red flags" seen in younger individuals. This volume provides the reader with a clear sense of the surprisingly high prevalence of alcohol and substance use disorders in older adults. For each of the major classes of addictive substances, both prescribed and illicit, this book highlights the key clinical issues that can complicate successful diagnosis. The authors describe strategies for initial engagement with the patient, including screening instruments, brief interventions which can be adapted to a primary care setting, emerging web-based and mobile technologies, and treatment strategies which are tailored to the age-appropriate needs of older adults, including older women - who have been found to be especially vulnerable to prescription drug misuse. With the aging of the baby boomers, a generation arriving in middle-age with greater exposure to alcohol and drugs than any previous cohort, the need for successful identification and effective treatment of alcohol and substance use disorders in later life has become a clinical imperative. Addiction in the Older Patient, whose editors bring more than 40 years of combined research and clinical experience in the field of addiction treatment, offers a comprehensive introduction to this underexplored and timely topic. This text synthesizes current clinical evidence to support the most effective strategies for discovering and treating addictive disorders in our older patients.

Drug abuse and addiction are common in clinical practice. Often they interfere with patient treatment or require an alternative approach. Drug Abuse and Addiction in Medical Illness: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment is a major contribution to the literature, a gold standard title offering a comprehensive range of topics for those who care for patients with addiction, conduct research in this area, or simply have an interest in the field. Offering state-of-the-art information for all those working with drug abusing or addicted patients, or for those interested in this topic from other research perspectives, the volume is a first of its kind book -- rich, comprehensive, yet focused, addressing the needs of the very active theoretical, basic, and clinical research in the field. Comprised of 46 chapters organized in four sections and developed by the leading international experts, Drug Abuse and Addiction in Medical Illness: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment covers virtually every core, as well as contemporary, topic on addiction, from the established theories to the most modern research and development in the field. Enhancing the educational value of the volume, every chapter includes an abstract and two boxes summarizing learning objectives and directions for future research. Drug Abuse and Addiction in Medical Illness: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment discusses the topic in a authoritative, systematic manner and is an indispensable reference for all clinicians and researchers interested in this rapidly changing field.

Drugs and the Future presents 13 reviews collected to present the new advances in all areas of addiction research, including knowledge gained from mapping the human genome, the improved understanding of brain pathways and functions that are stimulated by addictive drugs, experimental and clinical psychology approaches to addiction and treatment, as well as both ethical considerations and social policy. The book also includes chapters on the history of addictive substances and some personal narratives of addiction. Introduced by Sir David King, Science Advisory to the UK Government and head of the Office of Science and Technology, and Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the USA, the book uniquely covers the full range of disciplines which can provide insight into the future of addiction, from genetics to the humanities. Written for a scientific audience, it is also applicable to non-specialists as well. - Provides an unique overview of what we know about addiction, and how scientific knowledge can and should be applied in the societal, ethical, and political context - Applies the state-of-the-art research in fields such as Genomics, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Social Policy and Ethics to addiction research - Includes a preface by Sir David King, Science Advisory to the UK Government and head of the Office of Science and Technology, and in introduction by Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the USA