Theory of Addiction 2e

 The word ‘addiction’ these days is used to refer to a chronic condition where there is an unhealthily powerful motivation to engage in a particular behavior.

This can be driven by many different factors – physiological, psychological, environmental, and social.

If we say that it is all about X, we miss V, W, Y, and Z. So, some people think addicts are using drugs to escape from unhappy lives, feelings of anxiety, and so on; many are.

Some people think drugs become addictive because they alter the brain chemistry to create powerful urges; that is often true.

Others think that drug taking is about seeking pleasure; often it is. Some take the view that addiction is a choice – addicts weigh up the pros and cons of doing what they do and decide the former outweighs the latter.

Yet others believe that addicts suffer from poor impulse control; that is often true… And so it goes on.

When you look at the evidence, you see that all these positions capture important aspects of the problem – but they are not complete explanations.

Neuroscience can help us delve more deeply into some of these explanations, while the behavioral and social sciences are better at exploring others.

We need a model that puts all this together in a way that can help us decide what to do in different cases.

Should we prescribe a drug, give the person some ‘tender loving care’, put them in prison, or what? The theory of Addiction provides this synthesis.

The first edition was well received:

‘Throughout the book, the reader is exposed to a vast number of useful observations...The theoretical aims are timely, refreshing, ambitious, and above all challenging.

It opens up a new way of looking at addiction and has the potential to move the field of addiction a considerable leap forward. Thus we wholeheartedly would like to recommend the book for students as well as scholars.

Read and learn!’ Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

‘The book provides a comprehensive review of existing theories - over 30 in all - and this
synthesis of theories constitutes an important contribution in and of itself... West is to be
commended for his synthesis of addiction theories that span neurobiology, psychology, and social science and for his insights into what remains unexplained.’ Addiction

This new edition of the Theory of Addiction builds on the first, including additional theories in the field, a more developed specification of PRIME theory and analysis of the expanding evidence base. 

Author: Robert West, Jamie Brown
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Published: 11/04/2013
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.60w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780470674215

About the Author

Robert West is Director of Tobacco Studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit at University College London. He has been researching tobacco and nicotine dependence since 1982 and has published more than 250 scientific works. His research involves surveys of smoking patterns, clinical trials of aids to smoking cessation and laboratory studies of nicotine withdrawal symptoms. He is co-author of the English National Smoking Cessation Guidelines that provided the blueprint for the English Stop Smoking Services and is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Addiction.

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