The book explores impulsivity and impulse control disorders in pathology in order to understand how such pathology evolves to form elements of some of the most severe disorders of our time.

Chapters 1 and 2 address the social psychology domain, exploring many of the principles of self-regulation failure in the social arena. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 deal with the addiction domain. The impulse control disorders discussed in Chapters 6 through 15 are explored within the contexts of self-regulation failure and addiction. Chapters 16 through 18 examine the transition from impulse control disorders to compulsive disorders, and well-documented psychiatric disorders. The brain mechanisms that drive self-regulation failure are explored throughout the text, but a specific focus on regulation failure and stress is provided in Chapter 20.

Impulse Control Disorders provides essential background reading for a complete course. It can also be used in courses on drugs, addiction, and pharmacology. In addition, the material is very helpful to professionals in the field who wish to compare and evaluate disorders.

George F. Koob, Ph.D. is a Professor, and Chair of the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Koob is also an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego where he has taught upper division and graduate level courses on drugs, addiction and pharmacology. Dr. Koob has published over 700 scientific papers and received continuous funding for his research from the National Institute of Health. He has been honored as a Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information, and received the Daniel Efron Award for excellence in research from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. In addition, he received the Distinguished Investigator Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism, and the Mark Keller Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.