Written by: Cynthia Andrzejczyk, Ph.D 

Bruce Alexander has written a penetrating and incisive book on the nature of addiction in the 21^st century. Along with defining and differentiating various types of addiction, Alexander, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Simon Fraser University in Canada, has amassed forty years of studying addiction and addictive patterns of behavior, along with lecturing extensively on the topic. He has undertaken an inquiry as to how addiction has grown into a global phenomenon typical to the age in which we live.

In a chapter from his text on The Globalization of Addiction entitled “Addiction1, Addiction2, Addiction3, Addiction4,” Alexander cites then defines four different types of addiction. Addiction1 is the most common and refers to addiction to alcohol, one of the first recognized dependencies identified by physicians in the 19^th century. It also includes addiction to drugs recognized as addictive beginning in the early 20^th century (such as morphine), then into the latter part of the last century and would include addictions to heroin, cocaine, crack, and metha amphetamines (Alexander 19-20).  Addiction2 then adds a subtle point of difference. While both addiction types 1 and 2 are defined as an individual having an “overwhelming involvement” in a drug or alcohol habit, Addiction2 also suggests “substance abuse” or drug abuse of some kind that is not entirely overwhelming. This kind of abuse, as Alexander argues, will become “problematic” to society, though, at some point (Alexander 20).