Jim Orford

Commercial gambling is a recent historical phenomenon. It has developed into a profitable industry that supplies a range of recreational activities to its customers, and is a significant way of collecting money from players to distribute to companies, state budgets, and other beneficiaries. Many of these are civil society organizations, using the money for producing services in sports, culture, social work, and health care. However, gambling can also develop into pathological behaviour. Using a public interest framework, this book discusses the policies that will best serve the public good and minimize individual and collective harms. After describing the historical context of the gambling and the current global burden of the activity, available methods of regulating the industry are evaluated using the available scientific evidence. By analysing the effectiveness of gambling policies and their alignment with the public interest, the epidemiological obstacles to successful regulation are considered in detail. There is good evidence for the effectiveness of restrictions on availability and access, but preventing gambling-related harm is not possible without limiting the overall volume of the activity, and hence the profits for the gambling industry and governments. Taking an international approach, this book delivers a comprehensive review of the epidemiological evidence documenting the harmful effects of gambling on individuals, communities, and societies. Essential reading for policymakers, social and behavioural scientists in gambling research, and public health researchers, Setting Limits examines a global view of an emerging epidemic of gambling problems.

What difference does culture make?Coping with Alcohol and Drug Problems: The Experiences of Family Members in Three Contrasting Cultures aims to deepen and extend understanding of the experiences of family members trying to cope with the excessive drinking or drug taking of a relative. Comprehensive and thoroughly up to date, this book draws on the results of the cross-cultural study of alcohol and drug problems in the family, and places these results within the broader context of the international literature on the subject. By investigating the similarities and differences in the experiences of family members in three parts of the world, the authors reveal results which have far-reaching implications for professional intervention and prevention. Subjects covered include: models of understanding: how families continue to be pathologised and misunderstood. how family members cope.an integrated view of alcohol and drug problems in the family.ways of empowering family members. This book aims to demonstrate the possibility of a constructive alliance between professionals, substance misusing relatives, and the affected family members by thoroughly investigating the dilemmas that face family members and the lack of support they experience.This fascinating insight into the impact of alcohol and drug problems on family members will be a valuable resource for all those who are interested in substance misuse in family and cultural contexts, and particularly those who are interested in the treatment of alcohol and other drug problems.

Highly Commended in the Psychiatry category at the 2010 BMA Medical Books Awards!This book serves as a manual for clinicians working with people with alcohol problems. The manual is based on previous research in addiction treatment, including family and social network interventions, as well the authors' own work developing and evaluating Social Behaviour and Network Therapy (SBNT) for example in the United Kingdom Alcohol Treatment Trial (UKATT). Containing a range of ideas the book is guided by a key principle: the development of social support for a positive change in drinking behaviour.Divided into three sections topics include: an introduction to the evidence base underpinning SBNTcore components of the treatmentcommon questions asked about the intervention.Featuring a series of practical handouts, this book will be essential reading for clinicians, counsellors, nurses, psychologists and all those involved in the treatment of alcohol misuse and dependence.

What difference does culture make?Coping with Alcohol and Drug Problems: The Experiences of Family Members in Three Contrasting Cultures aims to deepen and extend understanding of the experiences of family members trying to cope with the excessive drinking or drug taking of a relative. Comprehensive and thoroughly up to date, this book draws on the results of the cross-cultural study of alcohol and drug problems in the family, and places these results within the broader context of the international literature on the subject. By investigating the similarities and differences in the experiences of family members in three parts of the world, the authors reveal results which have far-reaching implications for professional intervention and prevention. Subjects covered include: models of understanding: how families continue to be pathologised and misunderstood. how family members cope.an integrated view of alcohol and drug problems in the family.ways of empowering family members. This book aims to demonstrate the possibility of a constructive alliance between professionals, substance misusing relatives, and the affected family members by thoroughly investigating the dilemmas that face family members and the lack of support they experience.This fascinating insight into the impact of alcohol and drug problems on family members will be a valuable resource for all those who are interested in substance misuse in family and cultural contexts, and particularly those who are interested in the treatment of alcohol and other drug problems.

This open access book interrogates psychology’s contributions to our understanding of economic inequality. In the UK, the US and in many other countries, a high level of economic inequality is now one of the major problems facing society, but it seems the political will to restore greater equality is slight. The purpose of this proposed book is, therefore, to develop a psychological understanding of how economic inequality is tolerated and justified. Do we, as citizens, understand how unequal our society has become? Are our beliefs in merit, desert, and individual autonomy standing in the way of dealing with the problem of high inequality? Is a conspiracy of the rich and powerful to blame, or have we simply accepted a distorted form of economic theory? Finally, what – if anything - can be done? Including relevant insights from epidemiologists, economists, journalists, and others, this book provides an example to students and others of how psychology has relevance to some of the most pressing issues of our time. The UK is the central focus throughout, followed closely by the US and other high-income nations. All of the book’s conclusions however should be of relevance for all countries and their citizens as divides between the economically better- and worse-off remain or worsen, with damaging effects for individuals and their communities.

Why do we--not the politicians or the generals, but ordinary people--so often and so willingly support war, in the west and elsewhere? In search of an answer to that question, this book explores topics such as the personal appeal of war and wartime, the role of nationalism and other values in defense of which wars are fought, war as a male enterprise, images of the enemy, militarism and society, the role of propaganda, and the moral dilemma posed by war. While a focus on the public's attitude to war has been surprisingly neglected in psychology, this book combines psychology's few direct contributions on the subject with psychological theories to answer the book's key question. These theories include social identity, interpersonal contact, moral disengagement, system justification, relational models, and spiral conflict theories, plus concepts such as the authoritarian personality, social dominance orientation, and cognitive complexity versus simplicity. The book concludes by presenting an integration in the form of a Model of War Support, helping us understand one of the great issues facing us all, and opening up a relatively new area of psychology.

There are now signs that, after decades of phenomenal growth, the era of unrestrained gambling liberalisation may be coming to an end. However, the power of the Gambling Establishment is formidable, and it will certainly fight back. Drawing on research and policy examples from around the world, the book provides a unified understanding of the dangerousness of modern commercialised gambling, how its expansion has been deliberately or inadvertently supported, and how the backlash is now occurring. The term Gambling Establishment is defined to include the industry which sells gambling, governments which support it, and a wider network of organisations and individuals who have subscribed to the ‘responsible gambling’ Establishment discourse. Topics covered include the psychology of how gambling is now being advertised and promoted and the way it is designed to deceive gamblers about their chances of winning; the increased exposure of young people to gambling and the alignment of gambling with sport; understanding the experience of gambling addiction; the various public health harms of gambling at individual, family, community and societal levels; and how evidence has been used to resist change. The book’s final chapter offers the author’s manifesto for policy change, designed with Britain particularly in mind but likely to have relevance elsewhere. With detailed examples given of the ways a number of countries are responding to these threats to their citizens’ health, this book will be of global interest for academics, researchers, policymakers and service providers in the field of gambling or other addictions specifically, and public health and social policy generally.

There are now signs that, after decades of phenomenal growth, the era of unrestrained gambling liberalisation may be coming to an end. However, the power of the Gambling Establishment is formidable, and it will certainly fight back. Drawing on research and policy examples from around the world, the book provides a unified understanding of the dangerousness of modern commercialised gambling, how its expansion has been deliberately or inadvertently supported, and how the backlash is now occurring. The term Gambling Establishment is defined to include the industry which sells gambling, governments which support it, and a wider network of organisations and individuals who have subscribed to the ‘responsible gambling’ Establishment discourse. Topics covered include the psychology of how gambling is now being advertised and promoted and the way it is designed to deceive gamblers about their chances of winning; the increased exposure of young people to gambling and the alignment of gambling with sport; understanding the experience of gambling addiction; the various public health harms of gambling at individual, family, community and societal levels; and how evidence has been used to resist change. The book’s final chapter offers the author’s manifesto for policy change, designed with Britain particularly in mind but likely to have relevance elsewhere. With detailed examples given of the ways a number of countries are responding to these threats to their citizens’ health, this book will be of global interest for academics, researchers, policymakers and service providers in the field of gambling or other addictions specifically, and public health and social policy generally.

Risk and Resilience looks at the issue of young adults who grew up in families where a parent, and sometimes both, had a drinking problem. Alcohol-related problems are now recognized as being near the very top of the world league table of health and social problems. Since the large majority of problem drinkers are adults aged between 22 and 55, many are parents with children or adolescents in their care. In the USA alone, there are estimated to be over six million children under the age of 18 living with a parent with a drinking problem, and over 22 million adults - one in every eight American adults - who were brought up with a parent who had a drinking problem. Clearly, many children who grow up in this sort of environment have a difficult childhood. Velleman and Orford examine the question of what happens to such children when they grow up. Risk and Resilience focuses on three main themes: What is the likelihood of such young adults developing drinking problems themselves? Wha

Addiction exercises enormous power over all those who are touched by it. This book argues that power and powerlessness have been neglected in addiction studies and that they are a unifying theme that brings together different areas of research from the field including the disempowering nature of addiction; effects on family, community and the workplace; epidemiological and ethnographic work; studies of the legal and illegal supply; and theories of treatment and change. Examples of alcohol, drug and gambling addiction are used to discuss the evidence that addiction is most disempowering where social resources to resist it are weakest; the ways in which the dominant discourses about addictive behaviour encourage the attributing of responsibility for addiction to individuals and divert attention from the powerful who benefit from addiction; and the ways in which the voices of those whose interests are least well-served by addiction are silenced.

Addiction Dilemmas “Professor Orford is one of the most distinguished researchers of addictions today. In this book he aims to counter the neglect and misunderstanding faced by families affected by addiction – an estimated one hundred million worldwide – and to highlight the personal, professional and public policy dilemmas. By drawing on personal accounts from fiction, autobiography and Professor Orford and his colleagues’ own international research ­programme, the voices of children, wives, grandparents and friends spring to life. The penetrating and sensitive commentary, and thought-provoking questions and exercises make this book invaluable for practitioners, ­researchers and family members. It demonstrates the many shared ­experiences of family members across continents and over time, whether alcohol, drug misuse or gambling is involved.” Judith Harwin, Professor of Social Work, Brunel University, UK Addiction Dilemmas explores the impact of addiction on those closest to the individuals affected – their families. Many barriers can stand in the way of family members receiving help, not least a lack of available services and a failure on the part of professionals and their organisations to fully ­appreciate the nature of the dilemmas which they face. This book is based on a combination of personal interviews from scientific research, accounts from biography and autobiography (featuring well-known names both past and present) and excerpts from well-informed works of literature. The book’s core theme is the stress faced by family members when a close relative has an addiction problem, and the struggles they experience in deciding how to cope. By tracing the same dilemmas through a range of contexts, Jim Orford offers unique insights to professionals who deal with people with addictions and their families, researchers, policy makers and ultimately family members themselves. Sources include The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, A Chancer by James Kelman, Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill, and biographies of close relatives of Dylan Thomas and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Addiction Dilemmas “Professor Orford is one of the most distinguished researchers of addictions today. In this book he aims to counter the neglect and misunderstanding faced by families affected by addiction – an estimated one hundred million worldwide – and to highlight the personal, professional and public policy dilemmas. By drawing on personal accounts from fiction, autobiography and Professor Orford and his colleagues’ own international research ­programme, the voices of children, wives, grandparents and friends spring to life. The penetrating and sensitive commentary, and thought-provoking questions and exercises make this book invaluable for practitioners, ­researchers and family members. It demonstrates the many shared ­experiences of family members across continents and over time, whether alcohol, drug misuse or gambling is involved.” Judith Harwin, Professor of Social Work, Brunel University, UK Addiction Dilemmas explores the impact of addiction on those closest to the individuals affected – their families. Many barriers can stand in the way of family members receiving help, not least a lack of available services and a failure on the part of professionals and their organisations to fully ­appreciate the nature of the dilemmas which they face. This book is based on a combination of personal interviews from scientific research, accounts from biography and autobiography (featuring well-known names both past and present) and excerpts from well-informed works of literature. The book’s core theme is the stress faced by family members when a close relative has an addiction problem, and the struggles they experience in deciding how to cope. By tracing the same dilemmas through a range of contexts, Jim Orford offers unique insights to professionals who deal with people with addictions and their families, researchers, policy makers and ultimately family members themselves. Sources include The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, A Chancer by James Kelman, Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill, and biographies of close relatives of Dylan Thomas and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

An Unsafe Bet? The Dangerous Rise of Gambling and the Debate We Should Be Having reveals how gambling represents a danger to public health due to its inherent addiction potential, which is being intentionally downplayed by the gambling industry and governments. Lays bare the extent of gambling and its effects on societyExposes the dilemma for policy makers, who are charged with protecting public health but also increasingly dependent on revenues earned from gamblingWritten by Jim Orford, an internationally respected authority on the topicInternational examples broaden the argument and reveal the global stakes involved

This book is both a sequel to and expansion of Community Psychology, published in 1992. It serves as a textbook for courses on community psychology but now also includes material on inequality and health, since both are concerned with the way an individual's social setting and the systems with which they interact affect their problems and the solutions they devise. Part 1 sets the scene by locating community psychology in its historical and contemporary context. In Part 2, disempowered groups and their physical and mental health are considered. Finally in Part 3 the application of community psychology is discussed, and the ways in which marginalised people can be helped by strengthening their communities highlighted.

This book is both a sequel to and expansion of Community Psychology, published in 1992. It serves as a textbook for courses on community psychology but now also includes material on inequality and health, since both are concerned with the way an individual's social setting and the systems with which they interact affect their problems and the solutions they devise. Part 1 sets the scene by locating community psychology in its historical and contemporary context. In Part 2, disempowered groups and their physical and mental health are considered. Finally in Part 3 the application of community psychology is discussed, and the ways in which marginalised people can be helped by strengthening their communities highlighted.

Despite a rapid increase in the availability of many forms of gambling, there has been little serious study in the literature of the likely effects. This book reviews what is known about gambling in Britain and studying work on the nature, prevalence and possible causes of problem gambling.

Despite a rapid increase in the availability of many forms of gambling, there has been little serious study in the literature of the likely effects. This book seeks to fill that gap by reviewing what is known about gambling in Britain and studying work on the nature, prevalence and possible causes of problem gambling.Drawing on the history and recent British studies on the subject, Gambling and Problem Gambling in Britain gives an in-depth theoretical and practical viewpoint of this subject. Areas covered include:* gambling in Britain since Victorian times* expansion of gambling in the late twentieth century* what we now know about problem gambling and its treatment* a consideration of the future of gambling in Britain.This book will be invaluable for professionals, trainees and academics in the areas of counselling, primary care, probation and social work.

This eagerly awaited new edition of Excessive Appetites will offeryou a complete and comprehensive revision of this classic text inthe field of addictions. Covering a wide variety of different forms of addiction fromalcohol, tobacco and other drugs, through to gambling, eating andsex this book provides an up-to-date and authoritative account ofcore knowledge in this vital area. Comprehensive coverage, from the origins and processes ofaddiction right through to the ways in which people overcome theiraddictions, and the implications for interventions.

Risk and Resilience looks at the issue of young adults who grew up in families where a parent, and sometimes both, had a drinking problem. Alcohol-related problems are now recognized as being near the very top of the world league table of health and social problems. Since the large majority of problem drinkers are adults aged between 22 and 55, many are parents with children or adolescents in their care. In the USA alone, there are estimated to be over six million children under the age of 18 living with a parent with a drinking problem, and over 22 million adults - one in every eight American adults - who were brought up with a parent who had a drinking problem. Clearly, many children who grow up in this sort of environment have a difficult childhood. Velleman and Orford examine the question of what happens to such children when they grow up. Risk and Resilience focuses on three main themes: What is the likelihood of such young adults developing drinking problems themselves? Wha

Community Psychology Theory and Practice Jim Orford, University of Exeter, UK Community psychology is a comparatively new area within psychology. Its perspective is that people and their problems can only be understood by considering the social settings and systems of which they are part and with which they interact continuously over time. These include not only micro-systems of family, work and leisure groups, but also higher-order systems from neighbourhood to socio-cultural groups. Community psychology is also about using this understanding to improve people’s well-being. It is an applied, practical subject as well as a theoretical one. Community Psychology: Theory and Practice breaks new ground. It is the first such book written by a British psychologist and, unlike previous texts on the subject, it combines material from Britain, the United States and elsewhere. It deals at length with topics such as power and powerlessness, qualitative and case-study research methods, and offers background theory—so important to a new subject—together with reports of research on many practical aspects in community psychology. The book will prove essential reading for practitioners and researchers either oriented towards community psychology or thinking of moving in that direction—this includes psychologists working in any one of a wide range of areas (clinical, educational, forensic, organisational, applied social, etc.); health care workers with an interest in public mental health and prevention; those working in community settings and serving groups such as the mentally ill and psychologically distressed; people with learning difficulties; older people; and people with addiction problems. It will also be a valuable addition to the literature for final year psychology undergraduates and their teachers. From a published review- ‘ Orford’s book is written in a measured, cautious and scholarly style, does not exaggerate what community psychology has actually achieved so far, yet inspires with its vision of what community psychology could become. I used it as a core text for teaching a final year option on community psychology. The undergraduate group was wildly enthusiastic about the book. Indeed, the only complaint, raised equally energetically by the students, was that they had not been given access to such exciting material until the final year. The book is essential reading.’ The Psychologist 1993