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The Neurobiology of Addiction Rating: 9 on a scale of 10 Review This is a wonderful straight forward book of just the essential information about the neurology and biology of addiction to alcohol and drugs. Now, I know I have a lot of education behind me, so what seems simple to me may be quite challenging to others. This book is not designed for medical students to learn everything about addiction, but it could be used by students of any discipline, families, spouses, parents, youths or others to become knowledgeable about the basics of addiction. This is a book mostly about biology so to speak. It goes through, in very simple detail, the functioning of the human brain and how drugs effect the brain. For people who don't want to be overwhelmed, but would like a good solid description, this is an excellent choice. In chapter six he covers the cycle of addiction. I thought this was very well done. He gives a couple descriptions of how people's addictions evolved over time. These descriptions are very useful. He covers the biology and introductory neurology first. Then he starts in covering groups of drugs, such as stimulants, hallucinogens, depressants and marijuana. He groups things rather broadly, but manages to slip in current information on topics such as gamma hydroxybutyrate, rohypnol, inhalants, nicotine and caffeine. He then covers the cycle of addiction and follows it with a discussion about treatment. This is, of course, a rapidly changing field. There are new drugs not mentioned in it. It would be nice to see this book updated in another year or two, but not expanded more than a few pages at the most. Treatments for specific drugs may change some over time also, but not much at this point in time. I highly recommend this book for its purpose: to help non-science people understand basic information about addiction. It is by no means all inconclusive, it is like Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am". This would be an excellent first book for a college student or a graduate student in a field such as counseling or psychology, in order to become familiar with some basic concepts. All opinions are those of Curtis Climer, MD Copyright 2010 |
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