Alcohol and Tobacco

Alcohol and nicotine addiction mostly occur together. Over the last ten years therapeutic aspects and motivational strategies have been considerably improved. Hence, groups and subgroups have been defined and can be treated with specific medication and tailor-made psychotherapies, leading in the long term to considerably better and more effective results than the once broadly applied, rigorous abstinence -based therapies. However, alcohol and nicotine addiction still represent major medical and social problems.

In this book, new therapeutic approaches are comprehensively described, outlining the different interactions between personality, environment and the effects of the substance.

In addition to prevention-based therapies and diagnosis, essential psychological and sociological strategies, as well as medication-based therapies, are also presented in detail. All of these therapies have realistic aims and are of global validity. In addition, the book provides a broad overview of the American and European epidemiology of alcohol and nicotine addictions. The book is written for all those who care for and offer professional therapy for alcohol and nicotine-addicted patients.

Otto Michael Lesch, MD is currently President of the Austrian Society of Addiction Medicine, Head of the Alcohol Research Group of the Medical University of Vienna, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. Since 1972 he is responsible for longterm studies in alcohol dependence. He organized many international clinical trials and basic research in alcohol and tobacco dependence. He served 12 years as secretary of ESBRA and organized European networks for alcohol research. He always bridged the gap between basic and clinical research and developed clinical used tools to define subgroups of addiction for better treatment approaches. His assessment tools are now available in many different languages (www.LAT-online.at).

Henriette Walter, MD, is University Professor at the Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy.  She is a member of the Senate and of many commissions of the Medical University, Vienna. Dr. Walter is working in the field of alcoholism since more than 20 years, both, practically and scientifically, with over 200 publications. She is secretary of the 'AUSAM, the Austrian Society of Addiction Medicine and an ESBRA board member. She is associate editor of the Journal 'Hypnose', a field in which she takes an active scientific interest since 1982. With the 'theory of frontalisation' as the neuro-equivalent for the hypnotic state, she contributed to the neuroimaging research in this field. She gives regular training courses in medical hypnosis.

Christian Wetschka, PhD.is socialpedagogue, working in diverse socialtherapeutic and pastoral fields, supervisor, founder of Verein Struktur, which provides commune-flats for alcohol dependent persons

Michie N Hesselbrock, PhD is Professor Emeritus at the School of Social Work, and Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, University of Connecticut.  She held the Zach's Chair,  and was the founder and director of the PhD program at the School of Social Work before her retirement.   She has served on several NIH study sections and VA Merit review committees as a regular member and as an ad hoc reviewer.   Her research interests include epidemiology, behavior genetics, and health disparities of alcoholism and treatment

Victor Hesselbrock, PhD  is currently Professor and Interim Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine.  He holds the Physicians Health Services endowed chair in Addiction Studies.  Dr. Hesselbrock is the Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the University of Connecticut's NIH/NIAAA funded Alcohol Research Center and is co-PI of the NIH funded national Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA).  He is a past President of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA).  Dr. Hesselbrock is Associate Editor of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, a Review Editor for Addiction, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.  His research interests include: the genetic epidemiology of alcoholism; co-morbid psychiatric conditions and substance dependence; and psychosocial, cognitive, and genetic risk factors for developing alcohol dependence and alcohol-related problems.