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UNBROKEN BRAIN

Maia Szalavitz

A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addictive and Compulsive Behavior

More people than ever see themselves as addicted to alcohol or drugs, meds, sex, gambling, porn or the internet. Most see addiction as a crime or as brain disease. But our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas. The result is outdated treatment for most. This book challenges the idea of the addict’s “broken brain” and the notion of an “addictive personality”.
Challenging both the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and the notion of a simple "addictive personality," Unbroken Brain offers a radical and groundbreaking new perspective. It argues that addictions are learning disorders and shows how seeing the condition this way can untangle our current debates over treatment, prevention and policy. Like autistic traits, addictive behaviors fall on a spectrum -- and they can be a normal response to an extreme situation. By illustrating what addiction is, and is not, the book illustrates how timing, history, family, peers, culture and chemicals come together to create both illness and recovery- and why there is no "addictive personality" or single treatment that works for all. Combining Maia's personal story with a distillation of more than 25 years of science and research, Unbroken Brain provides a paradigm-shifting approach to thinking about addiction. Maia Szalavitz is an acclaimed science journalist who has authored or coauthored several books, including the national bestseller, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog (Basic, 2007). She has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsday, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Redbook, McCall's, New Scientist, Salon, Brill's Content and Spin.
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Published 2016-02-01 by St. Martin's

Comments

…[E]nlightening, insightful and informative. There's a lot of news you can use in this book if you or someone you love is an addict.”

Maia Szalavitz is one of the bravest, smartest writers about addiction anywhere.

Maia Szalavitz is a fabulous writer who has penned a wonderful, very forward-thinking book about addiction. If you or someone you love has been touched by addiction, or if you’re just interested in this fascinating subject, I cannot recommend Unbroken Brain highly enough. This book contains a wealth of information, but Maia Szalavitz presents it in an organized manner while writing in a clear and understandable voice.

Ms. Szalavitz deftly threads her life story through the book to illustrate the dynamics that put people at risk of addiction.

Anyone who has battled addiction or seen it harm a loved one will gain insights from "Unbroken Brain," and if it influences policymakers, too, everyone will benefit.

As more professionals realize that addiction isn't really a disease, our challenge is to determine exactly what it is. Szalavitz catalogs the latest scientific knowledge of the biological, environmental and social causes of addiction and explains precisely how they interact over development. The theory is articulate and tight, yet made accessible and compelling through the author's harrowing autobiography. Unbroken Brain provides the most comprehensive and readable explanation of addiction I've yet to see.

Through the lens of her own gripping story of addiction – supported with empirical evidence – Szalavitz persuasively shows that addiction is a disorder of learning, not one characterized by progressive brain dysfunction.

Of the countless writers out there who's focus is addiction, no one can begin to touch the brilliance of Maia Szalavitz. She is by far my favorite addiction writer, perhaps one of my favorite writers ever. Her passion and exceptional writing talent combined with her exhaustive research, create a book that will inspire, educate, enrage, and entertain. I can only promise one thing: if you read this book, you will never be the same again.

... a new way of looking at drug addiction that offers a fresh approach to managing it. [Salavitz] writes frankly about her background .... In a heartfelt manner, she exposes her own fears and pain ... A dense blending of self-exposure, surprising statistics, and solid science reporting that presents addiction as a misunderstood coping mechanism, a problem whose true nature is not yet recognized by policymakers or the public.

Maia Szalavitz is one of our most incisive thinkers about neuroscience in general and addiction in particular and her writing is astonishingly clear and compelling. In the timely, important, and insightful Unbroken Brain, Szalavitz seamlessly interweaves her moving personal story with her investigation into what addiction is (and isn’t) and how we can most effectively prevent and treat it.

UNBROKEN BRAIN by Maia Szalavitz hit theNew York Timeslist for the month, #8 in Health, and #12!

Journalist Szalavitz offers a multifaceted, ground-up renovation of the concept of addiction--both its causes and its cures.