Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this country, drug addiction and alcoholism have reached crisis proportions. The grim statistics illuminate the size of this crisis. More than 30 million Americans alive today will become addicted. The use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs causes one out of every four deaths in the United States. Illegal drug use now costs the nation $67 billion a year.

The Selfish Brain: Learning From Addiction takes a comprehensive, no-holds-barred look at the easy path to drug addiction and the tough road to recovery. Written in an easy-to-understand style, this book can help people confront addiction in their own lives and in their families by exploring the biological roots of addiction and the way addicts are allowed to deny their addiction by compassionate, well-meaning people. Based on his experience as a specialist on addiction and as a policymaker, former drug czar Robert L. DuPont, M.D., advocates "tough-love" measures to strip away the denial that allows addicts to remain trapped in their destructive habit and place them on the road to recovery. He examines treatment options, especially 12-step programs, which he believes are the most effective path to recovery. Powerful and often controversial, The Selfish Brain provides an honest examination of an insidious, destructive disease.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. xiii)
• Acknowledgments (p. xv)
• Preface (p. xvii)
• About the Author (p. xxix)
• Chapter 1 Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs (p. 2)
• Chapter 2 A World History of Drug Abuse (p. 31)
• Chapter 3 The Contemporary Scene for Alcohol and Other Drugs (p. 51)
• Chapter 4 The Brain Target Organ of Addiction (p. 92)
• Chapter 5 Gateway Drugs Alcohol, Marijuana, and Cocaine (p. 135)
• Chapter 6 Heroin and Other Drugs of Abuse (p. 187)
• Section III Overcoming Addiction (p. 226)
• Chapter 7 The Addict's Career (p. 228)
• Chapter 8 Codependence the Mirror of Addiction (p. 269)
• Chapter 9 Preventing Addiction (p. 283)
• Chapter 10 Intervention and Treatment (p. 321)
• Chapter 11 Twelve-Step Programs a Modern Miracle (p. 361)
• Chapter 12 Tough Policy Choices to Prevent Addiction (p. 419)
• Chapter 13 The Future of Addiction (p. 465)
• A Personal Footnote (p. 488)
• Drug Facts (p. 491)
• Bibliotherapy (p. 507)
• Appendix 1 Twelve-Step Fellowship and Other Mutual-Aid Group Descriptions (p. 511)
• Appendix 2 Resources (p. 519)
• Index (p. 527)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this comprehensive and readable book, DuPont focuses on the disease model of drug addiction. The author, a psychiatrist, served as the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and also as the nation's second Drug Czar or director of the White House Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. DuPont contends that addiction happens easily because drugs trick the brain's natural control systems through the stimulation of brain reward or pleasure centers. Although the book promises to be about the brain, very little attention is paid to the advances in brain research that have contributed so much to our knowledge of drug use and addiction. Instead, DuPont focuses on the addict's loss of control and the means by which addicts may overcome their addiction-- primarily through approaches such as the 12-step fellowships. The author is an expert in prevention and treatment of drug addiction, and he clearly cares passionately about drug abuse and its victims. This book will benefit all who are interested in ideas about the causes and cures of drug addition. All levels. C. R. Timmons Drew University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Robert L. DuPont, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Dr. DuPont is a practicing psychiatrist who has specialized in the prevention and treatment of addiction to alcohol and other drugs for more than two decades. He was the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), serving under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Dr. DuPont was also the second director of the White House drug abuse prevention office, a position now known as the drug czar. He is president of a nonprofit research organization, the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., and vice president of Bensinger, DuPont, and Associates, a national consulting firm specializing in the problems of addiction in the workplace. A second major area of professional interest is anxiety disorders such as agoraphobia, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was the founding president of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.