This practical guide to the psychology of effective communication should be suitable for anyone for whom communication in groups is a key part of their job. No previous knowledge of psychology is assumed and the emphasis is on exercises, key point summaries, assessment and improving your skills in everyday situations like committees, project teams, seminars and focus groups. Suitable as in introduction for psychology students, it should be of use to students of business, medicine, allied health, social work and probation, whether studying on a short course or attending an intensive training...

Drug users are no longer a mad, bad or immoral minority. Using drugs is normal for the chemical generation, and the drug that defines them is ecstacy. This book about ecstasy users' lives is based on one of the biggest government-funded projects ever undertaken and gives voice to the chemical generation for the first time. The effects of the manufacture, distribution and use of ecstasy are now being felt across much of the globe. In the UK, where the study was conducted, over 50 per cent of young people use drugs, a quarter of them regularly. The people in this book are ordinary, decent,...

Why are we so concerned about drugs and crime? Is the relationship between drug-taking and criminal behaviour as straightforward as it is sometimes made to appear? What should be done about the problem?

This thought-provoking book argues that much current thinking about drugs and crime is simplistic and misguided, because it fails to take into account the complex social and psychological contexts that underpin the relationship between drug or alcohol problems and crime. In clear and accessible language, it reviews existing explanations of the links between drugs and crime, and...