Customer Reviews

Addiction and Change: How Addictions Develop and Addicted People Recover (The Guilford Substance Abuse Series)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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This book, based upon the Prochaska and Norcross model of "stages of change" is a vital resource for the chemical dependency/abuse counselor, or anyone else who works with this population.

The authors clearly delineate how a person becomes addicted (using the stages of change model- except in reverse), then moving on to the process of recovery.

Contrary to an earlier review, I did not find this resource to be "verbose;" rather I thought the presentation was cogent and crisp.

Scholarly yet practical without pedantry this is an informative piece of literature in a field where one needs all of the resources one can get.

Highly recommended.

There are many different theories about what causes addiction and how to treat it. However, no single source of influence has been found that can fully explain addiction - not how it starts, or how to treat it. Seven of the more popular models include the Social/Environment models which emphasize the role of peer pressure, social policies, and family systems, the Genetic/Physiological models which examine the role of genes in addiction, Personality/Intrapsychic models which look at personality disorders as the culprit, Coping/Social Learning models which consider the inability to cope with life stresses to be the cause, Conditioning/Reinforcement models which would have us believe we are just like Pavlov's dogs, Compulsive/Excessive Behavior models which consider addiction to be similar to obsessive compulsive disorder, and the Biopsychosocial model which integrates the biological, psychological, and sociological explanations, hence the name.

As a recovering addict, I see some truth in all seven models, but not one of them is adequate enough on it's own to explain this very complex problem. Carlo DiClemente has helped create the Transtheoretical Model which brings together these divergent perspectives. In "Addiction and Change", DiClemente is more concerned about the process of change - into and out of addiction. In his research he has co-discovered five stages of change: Precontemplation (not even thinking about changing), Contemplation (thinking about changing), Preparation (preparing to change), Action (taking the steps to change), and Maintenance (maintaining the change).

"Addiction and Change" painstakingly covers every aspect of addiction and change and is backed up by many years of scientific research. If you want a better understanding of what has been proven to work, and what has not been proven to work, then you must read "Addiction and Change".

David Allan Reeves
Author of "Running Away From Me"

This book is being used as a text for a doctorate level course in clinical psychology. It is extremely informative and encompasses theoretical approaches and modalities for clinicians, families and the clients that are dependent on alcohol and other addictive substances.

This book arrived with in three days and looked brand new!! There was no highlighting, pages folded, and the spine wasn't even creased!

This book is very well written and easy to understand. This step approach to addiction recovery is both powerful and sensible.

I would love to review this as it is going to be a great resouce. Unfortunately I am unable to as I am yet to recieve the purchase. I paid for expediated post and 6 weeks later I am still waiting

My review is that the book is somewhat verbose but has a message for clinitions who work with people who have a need to change their thought patterns and do not know how to accomplish this task.