This book is an excellent review of a lifetime of contributions by Edward Khantzian and his collaborator, Mark Albanese. Khantzian in particular has been a pioneer in the psychological understanding of addictions since the 1970s, and was one of the first modern psychoanalysts to take an interest in this often-overlooked area. His committed focus on the self-medication hypothesis of drug addiction over the years has been a significant factor in its current wide acceptance.

This book carefully demonstrates the self-medication hypothesis (the authors abbreviate it as SMH) with numerous case examples. This hypothesis is fundamentally a statement that drug use is an effort to seek relief from emotional suffering. Through many case examples, Khantzian and Albanese show people who become excessive drug users how to manage, at least temporarily, feelings such as worthlessness, loneliness, and confusion.