When there's an addict in the family, you may find yourself in a codependent role: trying so hard to keep your loved one alive, out of jail, or emotionally appeased that you actually prevent them from realizing they need help. Barnett offers a step-by-step guide to dealing with a loved one's addiction, coping with the emotional hurdles of having an addicted family member, and making informed decisions on how to best help them-- and yourself.

An insider's view of America's drug and alcohol rehab industry explores its strengths and weaknesses while revealing a disturbing gap between best practice and reality.

Author David Sheff offers a new paradigm for dealing with addiction based on cutting-edge research and stories of his own and other families' struggles with--and triumphs over--drug abuse.

The course concludes with an exploration of other potentially addictive behaviors. Professor Polk argues that some artificial stimuli - junk food, pornography, and video games to name three - are "supernormal," meaning that they actually activate the brain's reward circuit more strongly than natural stimuli do, leading to some of the same neurological effects as drug use.

"One patient who I talked to said that she had to lie to be able to get adequate treatment for both disorders. She was told when she went to a PTSD treatment program that she couldn't have substance abuse or she wouldn't be able to get treatment, she had to be clean first. And it's a message a lot of people have heard." Lisa Najavits. Clinical studies of patients in substance abuse treatment programs have shown a high correlation with a client history...

Caffeine and nicotine are two of the most common psychoactive drugs in our society. How do they work? How dangerous are they? After reviewing how each of these drugs affects the brain - and why nicotine in particular is so addictive - Professor Polk offers several strategies to quit tobacco use.

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants -- and the equally powerful taboos Of all the things humans rely on plants for--sustenance, beauty, fragrance, flavor, fiber--surely the most curious is our use of them is to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities...

Ricky Lam had it all - a thriving film career, the adoration of countless fans, incredible wealth, and a cocaine and alcohol problem that was about to destroy him. Luckily, he also had a business manager - his straight-arrow older brother Philip - who strong-armed him into an addiction clinic. When tragedy strikes, erasing Ricky's dreams of winning Philip's forgiveness, Ricky resets his priorities. He turns his back on Hollywood, invites his two illegitimate...