This up-to-the-minute reference explores current trends, disease etiology and associations, novel assessment tools, and modern laboratory tests to promote coordinated treatment of comorbid substance abuse, psychiatric disease, and general medical conditions-recognizing the causal relationship between substance abuse and medical and psychiatric disorders and the effect of addiction on the outcome of individual patient recovery. Provides a discussion by Pietro Castelnuovo-Tedesco on the psychodynamic principles that guide the treatment of patients with substance abuse disorders-with or without concurrent medical or psychiatric illnesses! Reviewing major epidemiological studies on psychiatric comorbidity, Substance Abuse in the Mentally and Physically Disabled addresses ? diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, stroke, depression, dementia, AIDS, and those of the neurological and cardiovascular systems that are closely related to alcohol and drug abuse ? withdrawal symptoms, drug cravings, and agitation in recovery of drug-dependent patients ? delay of emotional healing in drug abusers ? substance misuse, behavior, and physical health in the elderly ? additional topics! Written by seasoned experts in the field, Substance Abuse in the Mentally and Physically Disabled is a timely and comprehensive tool for psychiatrists, neuropsychiatrists, and neuropsychopharmacologists; psychologists and substance abuse and addiction specialists, social workers, and counselors; primary care physicians; rehabilitation specialists; pharmacologists; behavioral scientists, and medical school and graduate students in these disciplines.