Uppers, Downers, All Arounders: Physical and Mental Effects of Psychoactive Drugs

by Darryl S. Inaba

Health, Mind, & Body/Psychology & Counseling
6th Edition. CD can be downloaded from the site.

Genres: Psychology, Textbooks, Nonfiction, School, Science, Addiction, Mental Health

Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

Reviews

[Carrie Torres]

I loved this book. The authors did a great job of taking technical, science-based information and making it easily understandable and relatable to our future professions as counselors.

[Paula]

A surprisingly crappy, badly written book that seems to be the go-to text for addictions field. Go figure.

[Elizabeth Pietzsch]

Very informative text that discusses the history, culture, and impact of various substances.

[Lydia Storey-Lopez]

You have to read this manual on hundreds of meds!
It’s probably a textbook somewhere. It helped me pass the MAC.

[Stephanie C]

The most thoroughly comprehensive book on all types of substance abuse - the history, the bio-neurological, the genetics, the demographics, all different types of drugs and other process addictions (gambling, gaming, sex), treatment. The graphics and graphs/tables are incredibly helpful and easy to understand. New editions (this was published in 2014) come out around every seven years, so I look forward to future editions because there has been so many synthetic drugs and other opiates i.e. fentanyl that were barely touched on since they simply were barely a blip on the radar. So too was legalized pot, and so I can imagine the next wave will become a much larger social and medical issue. The advent of Smartphones was barely mentioned as well, so I imagine that will become a greater topic, too.

This is literally a must-have, albeit expensive, text for anyone wanting to become well versed in addictions.

[Stephanie]

This is a great textbook. Broad but extensively detailed, comprehensive, and very readable. My only critique is that there is an updated DSM 5 section but in other parts it talks about the old Axis system. This was a text in my school counseling program for Intro to Addictions.

[Brenda]

Required reading, pretty clear writing.

[Mark Manderson]

Read this to learn more about the certification process for drug counselors.

Does a decent job of explaining things but definitely reads like a school book.

[Abigail G]

It was a textbook. It was relatively easy to read though it contained a lot of history, phsyiology, and theoretical information and the structuring of the chapters didn't always follow a predictable pattern. Also, the glossary tended to be off by a page number or two.

[Nick Nicholas]

Textbook for Substance and Alcohol Abuse course in graduate social work program at Washington University in St. Louis. Very informative, very thorough, based on very current information. Clearly written with a very strong graphics emphasis for those who learn best verbally or visually or both. Not up to the standard of a Goodman & Gilman pharmacology text, but this book is for social workers and counselors seeking a medical approach to substance abuse, not medical students who are more the audience for Goodman & Gilman.

[Reese Copeland]

Reading it for my CDP Exam in December. Very informative in a straight forward kind of way.
This is a really good book and easy to understand. Helps if you have some idea of how the brain works, but it's not required. Regardless of the profession you're in, it would be a good book to have a sense of how drugs and alcohol effect the brain as you're likely to come in contact with them somehow.

[Fishface]

This is an excellent one. Enormous book stuffed with every kind of information about addictive substances, like the fact that methcathinone use in the Midwest stems from betel-nut addiction in the Orient, and the fact that it's theoretically impossible to get addicted to the amount of caffeine in a dose of Excedrin. Written by the director of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic system, who's a doctor of pharmacy, so he oughta know.

[Trevin Alger]

Was lucky enough to have Dr. Inaba as a guest speaker for FOUR SEPARATE DAYS in the course I was taking. Learned more from him covering his material in those two weeks than the other nine, easily. Great guy.

[Sarah]

Looong chapters, but very informative regarding substance use and compulsive disorder. Provided lots of helpful information in a way that was easily understood and grasped by the reader. One of the better textbooks.

[Erin Garibaldi]

Uber dense but really helpful. I think I might be the only person who actually read it though...

[Matt]

Good stuff. I copy things for my clients.

[Kristin]

Good stuff if you work with or have kids!

[Erendira]

This book is recommended for my Alcohol and Drug Use class...I want to get to it eventually!!

[Luis]

Great pharmacology book it gives you a complete knowledge on different drugs its history and its used today. This is the Guide or Bible for A&D Councelors

[Caroline]

a textbook about the history of, and science behind, just about any drug which can be used. no political agendas or preaching.

[Jennifer]

SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD! ...coming from a neophyte CD counselor. I ate it right up. Of course, it's Dr. Inaba. How could it not be amazing?

[Romantic]

I read the sixth edition and the author is the one of the foremost leaders in the world on the topic of psychoactive substances.

[Claire]

Great information, but the highlighting makes it difficult to read.

[cathy]

This book is nice for teaching lower-division students that are working toward addiction studies degrees and certificates.

[Diana]

Premier book regarding drugs and yheir affects/effects. Still utilize constantly

[Brittany]

the newest edition is fabulous. A great teaching tool!

[Grant]

Great information, very in depth

[Stephi K.]

This is a super-comprehensive and interesting text about all kinds of psychoactive substances and compulsive behaviors. It's written so well that I don't want to skim it.

[Jessa Bame]

So much good information that I learned!