Addicted Brain, The: Why We Abuse Drugs, Alcohol, and Nicotine

Product Author Bios

Michael J. Kuhar (Atlanta, GA) is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Pharmacology in the Emory University School of Medicine, and Chief of the Neuroscience Division at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory. Prior to coming to Emory, he was Chief of the Neuroscience Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Professor of Neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has received numerous awards, and he is past president of the College of Problems on Drug Dependence, and is current president of the International Drug Abuse Research Society.

Addiction destroys lives. In The Addicted Brain, leading neuroscientist Michael Kuhar, Ph.D., explains how and why this happens–and presents advances in drug addiction treatment and prevention. Using breathtaking brain imagery and other research, Kuhar shows the powerful, long-term brain changes that drugs can cause, revealing why it can be so difficult for addicts to escape their grip.

Discover why some people are far more susceptible to addiction than others as the author illuminates striking neural similarities between drugs and other pleasures potentially capable of causing abuse or addiction–including alcohol, gambling, sex, caffeine, and even Internet overuse. Kuhar concludes by outlining the 12 characteristics most often associated with successful drug addiction treatment.

Authoritative and easy to understand, The Addicted Brain offers today’s most up-to-date scientific explanation of addiction–and what addicts, their families, and society can do about it.

Table of Contents

Introduction     xi
Chapter 1: What’s in This Book, and Why Should I Read It?     1
Chapter 2: Hardwired: What Animals Tell Us About the Human Desire for Drugs     15
Chapter 3: Feeling Good: The Brain’s Own Reward System     29
Chapter 4: The ABCs of Drug Action in the Brain     39
Chapter 5: The Dark Side Develops!     59
Chapter 6: Why Are Drugs So Powerful?     73
Chapter 7: The Brain Is Changed—For a Long Time!     85
Chapter 8: Could I Become an Addict?     99
Chapter 9: Stress, Social Status, and Drugs     115
Chapter 10: Gambling, Sex, and Food     127
Chapter 11: What Else Do Drugs Do to Me?     137
Chapter 12: Women and Adolescents     159
Chapter 13: Treatment: How Do I Get Better?     171
Chapter 14: What Does the Future Hold?     189
Glossary     203
Index     211