Clinical Handbook of Addiction and Substance Use Disorders

Addiction and substance use disorders affect every area of healthcare-from emergency departments and psychiatric services to primary care, pain management, obstetrics, and long-term community treatment. Clinicians must recognise intoxication, assess withdrawal risk, distinguish co-occurring psychiatric conditions, select appropriate interventions, and respond without reinforcing stigma.

Clinical Handbook of Addiction and Substance Use Disorders brings the science and clinical management of addiction into one structured professional reference. It connects contemporary neurobiology and DSM-5-TR diagnostic frameworks with screening, pharmacotherapy, behavioural intervention, emergency treatment, medical detoxification, and continuing care.

Across twenty focused chapters, the handbook examines alcohol, opioids, stimulants, cannabis, sedative-hypnotics, nicotine, hallucinogens, dissociatives, and emerging psychoactive substances.

Readers will explore:

• Mesolimbic reward circuitry, neuroadaptation, genetics, and addiction vulnerability
• DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria and severity assessment
• AUDIT, DAST-10, CAGE, CRAFFT, CIWA-Ar, and COWS
• Alcohol, opioid, stimulant, cannabis, benzodiazepine, and nicotine withdrawal
• Methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram, and other pharmacotherapies
• Motivational interviewing, CBT, DBT, contingency management, and family interventions
• Dual diagnosis and integrated treatment of psychiatric comorbidities
• Intoxication, overdose, naloxone administration, and toxicological emergencies
• Addiction care during pregnancy, adolescence, and older adulthood
• Chronic pain, opioid prescribing, medical complications, relapse, and continuing care
• ASAM levels of care, ethics, stigma, telehealth, and future treatment directions

Designed for physicians, residents, medical students, nurses, counsellors, psychologists, and other healthcare professionals, this handbook helps readers connect scientific evidence with real clinical decisions. Screening instruments, tapering information, drug-equivalency material, assessment frameworks, and level-of-care guidance support both study and clinical reference use.

Its non-stigmatising approach presents addiction as a treatable chronic disorder shaped by neurobiology, environment, mental health, and social conditions.

Strengthen your understanding of addiction medicine and develop a more structured approach to assessment, withdrawal management, treatment planning, emergency response, and long-term recovery care with Clinical Handbook of Addiction and Substance Use Disorders.