The Good News about Drugs and Alcohol: Curing, Treating and Preventing Substance Abuse in the New Age of Biopsychiatry

A look at the problem of substance abuse provides the latest data on the biological and psychological effects of drugs and offers advice on successful treatment and prevention methods

Psychiatrist Gold ( The Good News About Depression ) here reviews the origins, nature and ravages of today's drug culture--and then notes signs of its waning. He attributes this improvement to education, an increasingly aware citizenry, law enforcement and government programs (of which he, as a consultant to the Reagan-Bush administrations, is singularly uncritical). He concedes that schools share with the workplace major drug problems, and discusses the controversial issue of testing. On the medical front, he describes with special pride, and with a clarity typical of the entire book, the revolutionary techniques of biopsychiatry--notably in regard to cocaine addiction, with its focus on addiction as a mental illness which "returns psychiatry to its origins as a medical discipline."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gold hails biopsychiatry, or the application of the "rigorous standards of science and medicine to the practice of psychiatry," as the new successful method for fighting alcohol and drug abuse in America. If one remembers that there are also other approaches to dealing with these society-wide problems, Gold provides a good overview of many substance abuse issues. In living up to his book's catchy title, Gold discusses successful prevention and education efforts going on in schools, the home, and the workplace, and includes chapters on different treatment options. The bibliography directs the reader to research studies as well as additional general readings. Gold's book is highly readable, and his enthusiasm for the subject will maintain any reader's interest. Recommended for collections that already include some alcohol and other drug material.
- Cather ine Weglarz, Rutgers Ctr. of Alcohol Studies Lib., Piscataway, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.