In the realm of hungry ghosts: close encounters with addiction

Author's note --

Preface to the U.S. edition --

Foreword / by Peter Levine --

Hungry ghosts : the realm of addiction --

Pt. I : Hellbound train --

The Only home he's ever had --

The Lethal hold of drugs --

The Keys of paradise : addiction as a flight from distress --

You wouldn't believe my life story --

Angela's grandfather --

Pregnancy journal --

Beethoven's birth room --

There's got to be some light --

Pt. II : Physician, heal thyself --

Takes one to know one --

Twelve-step journal : April 5, 2006 --

Pt. III : A Different state of the brain --

What is addiction? --

From Vietnam to "Rat Park" : do drugs cause addiction? --

A Different state of the brain --

Through a needle, a warm, soft hug --

Cocaine, dopamine, and candy bars : the incentive system in addiction --

Like a child not released --

Pt. IV : How the addicted brain develops --

Their brains never had a chance --

Trauma, stress, and the biology of addiction --

It's not in the genes

Pt. V : The Addiction process and the addictive personality --

"A Void I'll do anything to avaoid" --

Too much time on external things : the addiction-prone personality --

Poor substitutes for love : behavioral addictions and their origins --

Pt. VI : Imagining a humane reality : beyond the war on drugs --

The Social roots of addiction --

Know thine enemy --

"Ignorant fanaticism" : the failed war on drugs --

Freedom of choice and the choice of freedom --

Toward an enlightened social policy on drugs --

Reducing harm --

Pt. VII : The Ecology of healing --

The Power of compassionate curiosity --

The Internal climate --

The Four steps, plus one --

Sobriety and the external milieu --

A Word to families, friends, and caregivers --

There is nothing lost : addiction and the spiritual quest --

Memories and miracles : an epilogue --

Postscript --

Appendices --

I : Fallacies of adoption and twin studies --

II : A Close link : attention deficit disorder and addictions --

III : The Prevention of addiction --

IV : The Twelve steps --

Endnotes --

Acknowledgments --

Permissions --

Index --

About the author.