National Alcohol Research Centers Program 1995

This book is the first complete guide to implementing the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), an empirically based, highly effective cognitive-behavioral program for treating alcohol problems. CRA acknowledges the powerful role of environmental contingencies in encouraging or discouraging drinking, and attempts to rearrange these contingencies so that a non-drinking lifestyle is more rewarding than a drinking one. Unique in its breadth, the approach utilizes social, recreational, familial, and vocational strategies to aid clients in the recovery process. This authoritative manual is a hands-on guide to applying these therapeutic procedures. The authors present a step-by-step guide to each component of the treatment plan, many of which have been shown to be effective forms of treatment in themselves. Topics include behavioral skills training, social and recreational counseling, marital therapy, motivational enhancement, job counseling, and relapse prevention. Each chapter provides detailed instructions for conducting a procedure, describes what difficulties to expect, and presents strategies for overcoming them. Sample dialogues between clients and therapists, annotated by the authors, further illuminate the treatment process. The book concludes with a chapter that both addresses the common mistakes made when implementing CRA, and emphasizes the flexibility and benefits of this total treatment plan. This book is an invaluable resource for a wide range of practitioners including psychologists, psychiatrists, substance abuse counselors, and social workers.

When The Natural History of Alcoholism was first published in 1983, it was acclaimed in the press as the single most important contribution to the literature on alcoholism since the first edition of Alcoholic Anonymous’s Big Book. George Vaillant took on the crucial questions of whether alcoholism is a symptom or a disease, whether it is progressive, whether alcoholics differ from others before the onset of their alcoholism, and whether alcoholics can safely drink. Based on an evaluation of more than 600 individuals followed for over forty years, Vaillant’s monumental study offered new and authoritative answers to all of these questions. In this updated version of his classic book, Vaillant returns to the same subjects with the perspective gained from fifteen years of further follow-up. Alcoholics who had been studied to age 50 in the earlier book have now reached age 65 and beyond, and Vaillant reassesses what we know about alcoholism in light of both their experiences and the many new studies of the disease by other researchers. The result is a sharper focus on the nature and course of this devastating disorder as well as a sounder foundation for the assessment of various treatments.

fMRI Neurofeedback provides a perspective on how the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback has evolved, an introduction to state-of-the-art methods used for fMRI neurofeedback, a review of published neuroscientific and clinical applications, and a discussion of relevant ethical considerations. It gives a view of the ongoing research challenges throughout and provides guidance for researchers new to the field on the practical implementation and design of fMRI neurofeedback protocols. This book is designed to be accessible to all scientists and clinicians interested in conducting fMRI neurofeedback research, addressing the variety of different knowledge gaps that readers may have given their varied backgrounds and avoiding field-specific jargon. The book, therefore, will be suitable for engineers, computer scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and physicians working in fMRI neurofeedback. Provides a reference on fMRI neurofeedback covering history, methods, mechanisms, clinical applications, and basic research, as well as ethical considerations Offers contributions from international experts—leading research groups are represented, including from Europe, Japan, Israel, and the United States Includes coverage of data analytic methods, study design, neuroscience mechanisms, and clinical considerations Presents a perspective on future translational development

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

This study is the first national, multi-site trial of patient-treatment matching. Describes cognitive-behavioral coping skills therapy (CBT), one type of treatment approach. Core Sessions include coping with cravings and urges to drink; problem solving; drink refusal skills, and more. Elective Sessions include starting conversations; introduction to assertiveness; anger management; job-seeking skills, and much more. Bibliography.

Drug abuse persists as one of the most costly and contentious problems on the nation's agenda. Pathways of Addiction meets the need for a clear and thoughtful national research agenda that will yield the greatest benefit from today's limited resources. The committee makes its recommendations within the public health framework and incorporates diverse fields of inquiry and a range of policy positions. It examines both the demand and supply aspects of drug abuse. Pathways of Addiction offers a fact-filled, highly readable examination of drug abuse issues in the United States, describing findings and outlining research needs in the areas of behavioral and neurobiological foundations of drug abuse. The book covers the epidemiology and etiology of drug abuse and discusses several of its most troubling health and social consequences, including HIV, violence, and harm to children. Pathways of Addiction looks at the efficacy of different prevention interventions and the many advances that have been made in treatment research in the past 20 years. The book also examines drug treatment in the criminal justice setting and the effectiveness of drug treatment under managed care. The committee advocates systematic study of the laws by which the nation attempts to control drug use and identifies the research questions most germane to public policy. Pathways of Addiction provides a strategic outline for wise investment of the nation's research resources in drug abuse. This comprehensive and accessible volume will have widespread relevanceâ€"to policymakers, researchers, research administrators, foundation decisionmakers, healthcare professionals, faculty and students, and concerned individuals.

Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world, yet alcoholism remains a serious addiction affecting nearly 20 million Americans. Our current understanding of alcohol's effect on brain structure and related functional damage is being revolutionized by genetic research, basic neuroscience, brain imaging science, and systematic study of cognitive, sensory, and motor abilities. Volume 125 of the Handbook of Clinical Neurology is a comprehensive, in-depth treatise of studies on alcohol and the brain covering the basic understanding of alcohol's effect on the central nervous system, the diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism, and prospect for recovery. The chapters within will be of interest to clinical neurologists, neuropsychologists, and researchers in all facets and levels of the neuroscience of alcohol and alcoholism. The first focused reference specifically on alcohol and the brain Details our current understanding of how alcohol impacts the central nervous system Covers clinical and social impact of alcohol abuse disorders and the biomedical consequences of alcohol abuse Includes section on neuroimaging of neurochemical markers and brain function