Addiction is one of the major problems of our age, whether to "socially acceptable" drugs such as alcohol or to "hard" drugs such as opiates. Many physicians, both specialists and generalists, are therefore increasingly faced by the challenges posed by addiction. This volume, the second in the series Progress in Psychiatry, brings much needed help and support by critically reviewing the latest research and the most recent advances in clinical therapy.

Based on the biopsychosocial model of addiction, this book looks at a variety of topics. In the first part, neurobiological, neurochemical, and neuroanatomical aspects of opiate tolerance and addiction are discussed. In the second part, opiate addiction in pregnancy and in the newborn, epidemiological approaches, and psychiatric comorbidity are dealt with.

The third part then looks at practical clinical approaches to relapse prevention, psychosocial treatment, methadone substitution, and the prospects for pharmacological treatment of substance abuse. The editors have brought together a group of renowned European and American experts to make this book as solid, practical, and interesting as possible, for students as well as for clinicians and researchers. This volume appears under the auspices of the International PTD Committee.