The urge : our history of addiction
(Book)

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Average Rating
Published
New York : Penguin Press, 2022.
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LocationCall NumberStatusDue Date
Central - Adult Nonfiction362.2909 FISHEChecked OutApril 16, 2024

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Published
New York : Penguin Press, 2022.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
xvii, 377 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Language
English

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-359) and index.
Description
Even after a decades-long opioid overdose crisis, intense controversy still rages over the fundamental nature of addiction and the best way to treat it. With uncommon empathy and erudition, Carl Erik Fisher draws on his own experience as a clinician, researcher, and alcoholic in recovery as he traces the history of a phenomenon that, centuries on, we hardly appear closer to understanding—let alone addressing effectively. As a psychiatrist-in-training fresh from medical school, Fisher was soon face-to-face with his own addiction crisis, one that nearly cost him everything. Desperate to make sense of the condition that had plagued his family for generations, he turned to the history of addiction, learning that the current quagmire is only the latest iteration of a centuries-old story: humans have struggled to define, treat, and control addictive behavior for most of recorded history, including well before the advent of modern science and medicine. A rich, sweeping account that probes not only medicine and science but also literature, religion, philosophy, and public policy, The Urge illuminates the extent to which the story of addiction has persistently reflected broader questions of what it means to be human and care for one another. Fisher introduces us to the people who have endeavored to address this complex condition through the ages: physicians and politicians, activists and artists, researchers and writers, and of course the legions of people who have struggled with their own addictions. He also examines the treatments and strategies that have produced hope and relief for many people with addiction, himself included. Only by reckoning with our history of addiction, he argues—our successes and our failures—can we light the way forward for those whose lives remain threatened by its hold. The Urge is at once an eye-opening history of ideas, a riveting personal story of addiction and recovery, and a clinician’s urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced, and compassionate view of one of society’s most intractable challenges. --from Amazon.

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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Fisher, C. E. (2022). The urge: our history of addiction . Penguin Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Fisher, Carl Erik. 2022. The Urge: Our History of Addiction. Penguin Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Fisher, Carl Erik. The Urge: Our History of Addiction Penguin Press, 2022.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Fisher, Carl Erik. The Urge: Our History of Addiction Penguin Press, 2022.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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