Information About the Origination of This Book

As alcohol and tobacco consumption often occur concomitantly, scientific and therapeutic interest in both substances has significantly increased over the past years. The concomitant use has clearly more damaging effects than alcohol or tobacco use by itself. In practice, patients have often mentioned that they were able to quit the consumption of one substance without difficulty, but at the same increased the consumption of the other (e. g. if the patients managed to quit smoking, their alcohol consumption significantly increased). Our knowledge about dependencies is permanently expanding and basic research keeps improving explainations of the functioning of specific brain circuits. Therefore it is very important for us to deliver findings that clinical practitioners can apply in therapy or during consultations with tobacco and alcohol dependents.