The Social Psychology of Drug Abuse

by Sussman, Steven Yale

• ISBN13: 9780335206186
• ISBN10: 0335206182
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

* Is drug abuse a disease? * What causes drug abuse? * How can drug abuse be best prevented or treated? This concise and comprehensive overview unravels the complexities surrounding the definition, cause and treatment of drug abuse. The authors set out the different classes of drugs of abuse, distinguish drug use from abuse, and consider whether or not drug abuse should be seen as a disease. They go on to examine other compulsive behaviours, such as eating disorders and pathological gambling, for their similarities and differences from drug abuse, and detail current methods of assessing drug abuse. Numerous extra-personal and intra-personal predictors of drug use and abuse are examined, including drug distribution systems, and biological factors, as well as social psychological factors. Finally, the authors present the wide spectrum of current prevention and treatment programmes and discuss future directions in the prevention and cessation of drug abuse. This book takes an international approach and provides vital information on key issues, presenting its material from a social psychological perspective, but drawing on work in public health, clinical psychology and sociology. Each chapter provides a summary and tables to help the reader integrate the information. It will prove invaluable not only to undergraduate and postgraduate students, but to counsellors, researchers, and policy makers.

Author Biography

Steve Sussman is a professor at the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the University of Southern California Susan L. Ames is a part-time staff research associate at the Center for Research on Substance Abuse at the University of California, Los Angeles and part-time research associate at the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the University of Southern California

Table of Contents

Series editor's foreword	vii
Preface	ix
About the authors	xiii
Acknowledgements	xv
Part 1 General issues pertaining to drug abuse	1	(52)
Definitions of drug abuse and drug abuse consequences	3	(16)
Is drug abuse a disease?	19	(9)
Drug abuse and other problem behaviours	28	(11)
Assessment of drug abuse	39	(14)
Part 2 Predictors of drug use and abuse	53	(36)
Extrapersonal predictors of drug abuse	55	(14)
Intrapersonal predictors of drug abuse	69	(9)
Integrated theories of drug abuse	78	(11)
Part 3 Drug abuse prevention and cessation programming and the future	89	(48)
Drug abuse prevention programmes	91	(11)
Drug abuse cessation programmes and relapse prevention	102	(26)
Future considerations in the drug abuse arena	128	(9)
Glossary	137	(11)
Bibliography	148	(20)
Index	168