Cognitive, Clinical, and Neural Aspects of Drug Addiction

A complete reference to the factors that contribute to drug addiction and relapse

Ahmed Moustafa (Author)

9780128169797, Elsevier Science

Paperback, published 16 January 2020

340 pages, 40 illustrations (20 in full color)
22.9 x 15.1 x 2.2 cm, 0.5 kg

"This is a fairly technical book requiring that readers have some understanding of theories of neurocognition and cognitive thinking to fully appreciate the content. The main focus of this book is that these neurocognitive processes are the cause of addictions. The question that remains is: are these issues the cause of addiction or merely the result of the underlying neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders? Nonetheless, understanding these cognitive processes will help one better understand and treat those with addictions." --Doody

Drug addictions are often difficult to treat. The most successful treatments begin with studying why individuals become addicted to drugs and how to change their thinking and behaviour. Cognitive, Clinical, and Neural Aspects of Drug Addiction focuses on the theories that cause drug addiction, including avoidance behavior, self-medication, reward sensitization, behavioral inhibition and impulsivity. Dr. Moustafa takes this book one step further by reviewing the psychological and neural causes of relapse including the role of stress, anxiety and depression. By examining both the causes of drug addiction and relapse, this book will help clinicians create individualized treatment options for patients suffering from drug addiction.

1. Learning from aversive vs. appetitive outcome in drug addiction2. The role of contextual processes in drug use and relapse3. Avoidance behavior in addiction4. Behavioral inhibition and impulsivity as factors underlying drug use5. Delay, probability and effort discounting underlying addictive behaviors6. The varieties of risk taking behaviors in drug abuse7. Extinction learning in addiction: relevance to cue exposure therapy8. The psychological causes of relapse9. Future thinking and intolerance of uncertainty in addiction10. The bidirectional relationship between depression and addiction11. The role of stress and anxiety in drug use and relapse12. The effect of trauma on drug use13. Theories of Addiction: self-medication vs. reward sensitization14. Summary and future directions in addiction research

Subject Areas: Neurosciences [PSAN], Addiction & therapy [MMZR], Clinical psychology [MMJ], Physiology [MFG], Psychology [JM]