Addiction Science

When high speed Internet became widely available a few years ago, growing numbers of people began to worry that their porn use was running out of control. Far from preparing them for fulfilling relationships, viewing an endless stream of porn videos led to unexpected symptoms.

We've all found ourselves checking email at the dinner table, holding our breath while waiting for Outlook to load, or sitting hunched in front of a screen for an hour longer than we intended. Mobile devices and the web have invaded our lives, and this is a big idea book that addresses one of the biggest questions of our age: Can we stay connected without diminishing our intelligence, attention spans, and ability to really live? Can we have it all?

We live in an age of addiction, from compulsive gaming and shopping to binge eating and opioid abuse. Sugar can be as habit-forming as cocaine, researchers tell us, and social media apps are hooking our kids. But what can we do to resist temptations that insidiously and deliberately rewire our brains? Nothing, David Courtwright says, unless we understand the history and character of the global enterprises that create and cater to our bad habits.

Addiction by Design takes listeners into the intriguing world of machine gambling, an increasingly popular and absorbing form of play that blurs the line between human and machine, compulsion and control, risk and reward.

Doctors Chuck Smith and Jason Hunt bring a unique and important perspective to the subject of addiction. Experts in the field, Smith and Hunt have personal, firsthand experience with the humiliation and shame that accompanies substance use disorder. But addiction, as they point out, is a disease, no less so than diabetes or heart disease, and it needs to be treated as such. If you, or a loved one, is struggling with addiction, you'll find help in Smith and Hunt's book. When one understands the science behind addiction, one can begin to move forward. Beyond the stigma lies hope.

Healing the Addicted Brain is a breakthrough work that focuses on treating drug and alcohol addiction as a biological disease - based on the Recovery Science program that has helped thousands of patients defeat their addictions. It combines the best behavioral addiction treatments with the latest scientific research into brain functions, providing tools and strategies designed to overcome the biological factors that cause addictive behavior along with proven treatments and medications.

In this definitive book on revenge, psychiatry researcher James Kimmel, Jr. exposes the unseen neurobiological cause of violence—a compulsive desire for retribution—and offers a profound new understanding of human behavior and breakthrough framework for making our lives and communities safer...

Hedge fund titan Marcus Carelli knows how to get what he wants, and he’s never wanted anything as much as he does Emma. The cat-loving redhead may have walked out of his life, but he's not about to let her go. Bookstore clerk Emma Walsh has had her heart broken by the ruthless billionaire once, and she's not about to forget it. Marcus can chase her down all he likes, but winning her back is another story.

The New York Times–bestselling author of The Brain That Changes Itself presents astounding advances in the treatment of brain injury and illness. Now a new afterword. Winner of the 2015 Gold Nautilus Award in Science & Cosmology In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge described...

From an early age, Amber van de Bunt knew she wasn't like the other girls in town. From childhood struggles with depression and eating disorders, her years as a topless dancer in Florida, and an eventual abortion and suicide attempt, to her rebirth in Los Angeles as a porn star named Karmen Karma, overcoming her relationship with her abusive mother, and her struggle to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle - van de Bunt's life has been a roller coaster. With humor, alacrity, and profound insight, she reveals her deepest, darkest secrets and pulls no punches - least of all with herself.

Underpinned by his two-year research trial in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor David Nutt and his team of scientists will break the mould on the way we use Cannabis for our health in the future. In David's first ground-breaking book on the subject, he will cover its impact of all areas of the body and the brain and its effective use for treatment of illness from chronic pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and PTSD, to anxiety and depression.

After 20 years of fighting and failing to get sober using abstinence-based methods, journalist Katie Herzog found a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to take control over alcohol. Part memoir, part guidebook, Drink Your Way Sober shares Herzog’s recovery journey as well her keen observations of drinking and life. She dives into the science and history of addiction treatment to discover why we treat alcohol use disorder the way we do—and why abstinence-based programs like Alcohol Anonymous don’t always work.

In this book, Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D., shares the groundbreaking weight-loss solution based on her highly acclaimed Bright Line Eating Boot Camps. Rooted in cutting-edge neuroscience, psychology, and biology, Bright Line Eating explains why people who are desperate to lose weight fail again and again: It’s because the brain blocks weight loss.

Come to terms with your past while moving powerfully into the future The Courage to Heal is an inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and a map of the healing journey to every woman who was sexually abused as a child—and to those who care about her. Although the effects of child...

When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games via scientific study....

For decades addiction has been viewed and treated as a social and behavioral illness, afflicting people of "weak" character and "bad" moral fiber. However, recent breakthroughs in genetic technology have enabled doctors, for the first time, to correctly diagnose the disease and prove that addiction is an inherited, neuro-chemical disease originating in brain chemistry, determined by genetics, and triggered by stress. In their groundbreaking The Addiction Solution, David Kipper and Steven Whitney distill these exciting findings.

Drawing on over 130 interviews as well as numerous national surveys, Addicted to Lust tells us that, compared to other Americans, pornography shapes the lives of conservative Protestants in ways that are uniquely damaging to their mental health, spiritual lives, and intimate relationships. Perry demonstrates how certain pervasive beliefs within the conservative Protestant subculture unwittingly create a context in which those who use pornography are often overwhelmed with shame and discouragement, sometimes to the point of depression or withdrawal from faith altogether.

There's no escaping it - we live in a digital world. We work, play, socialize, and learn online, and the internet provides many amazing opportunities. Unfortunately, because of our basic biology, we're all susceptible to overuse and addiction to screens. Video games, social media, porn, and even scrolling online, taps into that pleasurable dopamine reward system. So, when is it time to log off or put the phone down and get help?

How to heal relationships, mend rifts with loved ones, and balance the demands of sobriety with the need for family connection An empowering guide for recovering addicts and alcoholics from an author with lived experience and professional expertise In Rebuilding Relationships in Recovery, Janice...

Meth alchemists all over the United States tap the occulted potencies of industrial chemical and big pharma products to try to cure the ills of precarious living: underemployment, insecurity, and the feeling of idleness. Meth fires up your attention and makes repetitive tasks pleasurable, whether it’s factory work or tinkering at home. Users are awake for days and feel exuberant and invincible. In one person’s words, they “get more life”.