Mastering the Addicted Brain: Building a Sane and Meaningful Life to Stay Clean

For anyone trying to overcome an addiction, living with someone with an addiction, or helping someone with an addiction

As most drug and alcohol addicts eventually realize, good intentions alone aren’t enough to break destructive habits. However, addiction can be managed once its true nature is understood. This simple yet profound guidebook takes you step-by-step through the process of building a life after addiction by adopting new behaviors that create lasting change. An internationally renowned psychiatrist, neurologist, and addiction specialist, Dr. Walter Ling has worked with thousands of addicts, their loved ones, and fellow clinicians. His no-nonsense, no-judgment approach, which he calls the “neuroscience of common sense,” advocates holistic methods to prevent relapse and establish new patterns to create a sustainable, meaningful life.

Board-certified both in neurology and in psychiatry by the American Board of Medical Specialties, Walter Ling MD is a neuro-psychiatrist in the truest sense. For over five decades he has enjoyed a successful career in research and in clinical practice, consistently listed in the Best Doctors in American, Best Doctors in the West, and Best Doctors in Los Angeles. He has been a leader in developing science-based addiction treatment since the Vietnam War heroin epidemic when President Richard Nixon established the White House Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, forerunner of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His numerous clinical trials through the years have contributed pivotal data to the Food and Drugs Administration’s approval of all three currently available medications used in Medication Assisted treatment ―methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone.

Acknowledged and respected nationally and internationally as clinician, researcher, and teacher, Dr. Ling has served as consultant on narcotic affairs to the US Department of State, the World Health Organization, and United Nation’s Office of Drug Control. For the last two decades, he led UCLA’s Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, one of the foremost research and training organization in drug abuse in the United States and worldwide that has provided extensive drug abuse training to countries in Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Dr. Ling is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at UCLA and he lives in Los Angeles.