Stahl's Illustrated Substance Use and Impulsive Disorders

Abstract

All of the titles in the Stahl's Illustrated series are designed to be fun. Concepts are illustrated by full-color images that will be familiar to readers of Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology, 3rd edition, and The Prescriber's Guide. The visual learner will find that these books make psychopharmacology concepts easy to master, while the non-visual learner will enjoy a shortened text version of complex psychopharmacology concepts. Each chapter builds on previous ones, synthesizing information from basic biology and diagnostics to building treatment plans and dealing with complications and comorbidities. Novices may want to begin by looking through all the graphics and gaining a feel for the visual vocabulary. Readers more familiar with these topics should find that going back and forth between images and text provides an interaction with which to vividly conceptualize complex pharmacologies. Each book ends with a Suggested Reading section to help guide more in-depth learning about particular concepts.

Is impulsive violence an addiction? The Habit Hypothesis

“…Changes within 4 main brain circuits that control key aspects of impulsive and compulsive behavior may hypothetically underlie the pathophysiology of addiction-like behavior, from substance abuse to behavioral addictions such as gambling, binge eating, and impulsive violence. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] These neuronal networks regulate the following:…”

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] This model has been linked extensively to the pathophysiology of drug addiction. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Applying this model to impulsive violence suggests that individuals become conditioned to having violent reactions to various provocative stimuli, so that over time, such stimuli create impulses to react violently that eventually become automatic, mindless behaviors and a compulsive habit. This hypothesis for the evolution of impulsive violence into a habit or "addiction" is analogous to how drugs of abuse theoretically lead from a rewarding "high" to the compulsive and self destructive drug-seeking behaviors of addiction.…”

“…This hypothesis for the evolution of impulsive violence into a habit or "addiction" is analogous to how drugs of abuse theoretically lead from a rewarding "high" to the compulsive and self destructive drug-seeking behaviors of addiction. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The Inability to Resist Urges: A Theory of Impulsive Violence…”

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Although not a formal diagnostic feature of any psychiatric illness, impulsive violence is nevertheless a behavioral dimension that can cut transdiagnostically across many conditions, ranging from personality disorders (especially psychopathy and borderline personality disorder) to mood disorders and psychotic disorders. [8][9][10][11][12][13] A novel formulation of impulsive violence presented here is to conceptualize it as a behavior that lies within the impulsivitycompulsivity spectrum. Impulsive-compulsive disorders include not only drug addiction, but also behavioral addictions such as gambling, binge eating, and possibly impulsive violence.…”

“…Impulsive-compulsive disorders include not only drug addiction, but also behavioral addictions such as gambling, binge eating, and possibly impulsive violence. [10][11][12][13] These disorders could theoretically all share a common pathophysiology, namely an imbalance between the circuits that motivate behavior due to reward/conditioning on the one hand and circuits that control/inhibit impulsive drives on the other. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The hope is that this new formulation of impulsive violence may lead to renewed efforts to find effective treatments based on behavioral and pharmacological interventions that target the hypothetical maladaptations in these brain circuits.…”