While knowledge on substance abuse and addictions is expanding rapidly, clinical practice still lags behind. This state-of-the-art book brings together leading experts to describe what treatment and prevention would look like if it were based on the best science available. The volume incorporates developmental, neurobiological, genetic, behavioral, and social-environmental perspectives.

Tightly edited chapters summarize current thinking on the nature and causes of alcohol and other drug problems; discuss what works at the individual, family, and societal levels; and offer robust principles for developing more effective treatments and services.

The book will be useful to researchers and students in clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work, addictions counseling, and related disciplines; clinicians treating clients with substance abuse problems; graduate students in these fields. It also serves as a text in graduate-level courses in substance abuse and addictions treatment.

"Two thought leaders in substance abuse have done a remarkable service for clinicians and researchers: they have put together a distillation of what research has taught about the nature of addiction and its treatment. This volume is well focused, comprehensive, and quite readable." - Marc Galanter, Department of Psychiatry and Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, New York University School of Medicine, USA

"If you teach about substance use and abuse, as I do, you and your students will greatly value this book. Like other exemplary volumes that review what we know about substance abuse, it offers state-of-the-art overviews of biological, psychological, and social factors in and treatments for substance abuse. But it also does a good deal more. Above all, the book anticipates important future developments and weighs them for their impact on prevention and treatment. Since the editors and contributors are leading authorities on these matters, this is a book that can be taken seriously." - Peter E. Nathan, Department of Psychology and Department of Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa, USA