Addiction and Art

by Patricia B. Santora (Editor), Margaret L. Dowell (Editor), Jack E. Henningfield (Editor)

Overview

Highly Commended in Psychiatry, 2011 BMA Medical Book Awards. British Medical Association

Addiction to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is one of the major public health issues of our time. It accounts for one of every five deaths in the United States and costs approximately one-half trillion dollars per year in health care expenditures and lost productivity. Its human costs are untold and perhaps uncountable. Addiction and Art puts a human face on addiction through the creative work of individuals who have been touched by it.

The art included here presents unique stories about addiction. Many pieces are stark representations of life on the edge. Others are disturbing contemplations of life, meaning, and death. Some even reflect the allure of addiction and a fondness for substance abuse. A panel of addiction scientists, artists, and professionals from the art world selected the 61 pieces included here from more than 1,000 submissions. Accompanied by a written statement from the artist, each creation is emblematic of the destructive power of addiction and the regenerative power of recovery.

Stunning and occasionally unsettling, this unique portfolio reveals addiction art as a powerful complement to addiction science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801894817
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patricia B. Santora is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a coeditor, along with Jack E. Henningfield and Warren K. Bickel, of Addiction Treatment: Science and Policy for the Twenty-first Century, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Margaret L. Dowell is an adjunct professor of education and art at Mount Saint Mary's University and at Carroll Community College.

Jack E. Henningfield is an adjunct professor of behavioral biology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and vice president for research and health policy at Pinney Associates, a consulting firm in Bethesda, Maryland, that specializes in science policy and regulatory issues concerning public health, medication development, and treatment of tobacco addiction.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Cultivating the Visual Arts to Stimulate Insights into Addiction and Recovery
2. How the Visual Arts Capture the Complexity of Addiction
3. Art Complements Science: A Collection of Addiction Art and Artists' Statements
Epilogue
Appendix A: Addiction Art Advisory Board
Appendix B: "Call to Artists": Method of Gathering Art for This Collection
Notes
Index of Contributing Artists

Editorial Reviews

Addiction and Art is an excellent beginning to creating better awareness and understanding of those struggling to recover from addiction. The book should become required reading for drug abuse awareness programs throughout the country.
—Robyn Oxborrow, San Francisco Chronicle

An innovative way to complement the science and research of addiction.
—addictionblog.org

Addiction and Art is a strange book but, if one of the functions of art is to make us think, then such strangeness works.
—Wiley Online Library

An important book; recommended for all collections.
—Library Journal

There is also something expressed, something that provides an observer with an understanding of the feeling of addiction, and it is this that makes this book such a fascinating read. Art—that universal language—gives us an insight into the personal aspects of addiction that science alone is unable to explain.
—Chloe A. V. Hunt, Lancet

A worthwhile book, not only for the many striking images it presents, but also for showing how an involvement with art might for some prove therapeutic.
—Iain Smith, British Journal of Psychiatry

Reading through it is hard work, but it is worth the effort.
—Metapsychology

From the Publisher

An innovative way to complement the science and research of addiction.

addictionblog.org

Addiction and Art is a strange book but, if one of the functions of art is to make us think, then such strangeness works.

Wiley Online Library

Addiction and Art is an excellent beginning to creating better awareness and understanding of those struggling to recover from addiction. The book should become required reading for drug abuse awareness programs throughout the country.

San Francisco Chronicle - Robyn Oxborrow

There is also something expressed, something that provides an observer with an understanding of the feeling of addiction, and it is this that makes this book such a fascinating read. Art—that universal language—gives us an insight into the personal aspects of addiction that science alone is unable to explain.

Lancet - Chloe A. V. Hunt

Reading through it is hard work, but it is worth the effort.

Metapsychology

A worthwhile book, not only for the many striking images it presents, but also for showing how an involvement with art might for some prove therapeutic.

British Journal of Psychiatry - Iain Smith

A worthwhile book, not only for the many striking images it presents, but also for showing how an involvement with art might for some prove therapeutic.

— Iain Smith

British Journal of Psychiatry

There is also something expressed, something that provides an observer with an understanding of the feeling of addiction, and it is this that makes this book such a fascinating read. Art—that universal language—gives us an insight into the personal aspects of addiction that science alone is unable to explain.

— Chloe A. V. Hunt

Lancet

Addiction and Art is an excellent beginning to creating better awareness and understanding of those struggling to recover from addiction. The book should become required reading for drug abuse awareness programs throughout the country.

— Robyn Oxborrow

San Francisco Chronicle

Santora (psychiatry & behavioral sciences, Johns Hopkins Univ. Sch. of Medicine), Margaret L. Dowell (education & art, Mount Saint Mary's Univ.), and Jack E. Henningfield (vice president for research & health policy, Pinney Associates) address one of the most important public health issues of our time in an attempt to "reveal the human experience of addiction." The editors state that the book marks "the intersection of science and the visual arts," a rather grandiose claim; nevertheless, it brings forth images of the addictive process, promoting the idea that substance abuse and addiction are epidemic. There are some powerful artistic statements here, both in word and in image, as well as works of poorer quality. The book also inspired a website (addictionandart.org) promoting art about addiction and exhibitions of such work. VERDICT Beyond art enthusiasts, those interested in addiction or working with addicts may also be interested. An important book; recommended for all collections.—Terry McMaster, Syracuse, NY

Library Journal