The book by the famous Russian psychotherapist G.V. Starshenbaum is dedicated to one of the most pressing problems of modern Russia - the problem of addictions. Many years of experience working with patients suffering from both chemical and emotional addictions allows the author to analyze the underlying mechanisms of various addictions and, on this basis, identify a new clinical discipline - addictionology, which lies at the intersection of psychiatry, narcology and sexology. The book provides a detailed description of the clinical picture, diagnosis and treatment of various forms of addictive behavior, and provides excerpts from case histories of patients who have successfully completed a course of psychotherapy using the method developed by the author.