Harvey B. Milkman, Stanley G. Sunderwirth: Craving for Ecstasy and Natural Highs: A Positive Approach to Mood Alterations

Excerpt

From the outset, this book is impressive in the way its systematic, carefully crafted structure and engaging written style not only captures the reader’s interest but also offers a solid roadmap leading her/him to gain a full appreciation of the concepts and nuances of varied addiction: behavioral and substance-related. Addictions are defined as covering those compulsive human activities that are driven by the motivation to achieve hedonic states of pleasure that contain neurochemical correlates. Included within this domain are alcohol and licit and illicit drugs, the Internet, Online pornography, gambling and obesity to mention but a few. Setting aside the questionable notion that people can be addicted to the Internet, the Internet being simply a medium through which people can access the object of their desires, this book’s focus lies on trying to understand and explain the processes underlying how and why people repeatedly seek and engage in pleasures despite adverse consequences to themselves or others. …