About The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)
The BASIS mission is to minimize the addiction’s harmful effects by providing the general public, treatment providers, policy makers and others with access to addiction research.
Each week, The BASIS increases awareness by providing a summary of a current, peer-reviewed addiction science article. We supplement these science summaries with editorials written by recovering people, clinicians, researchers, policy makers, and others. By discussing addiction and related mental health conditions openly and encouraging compassion, tolerance, acceptance, and hope, The BASIS works to reduce the stigma often associated with addiction. The BASIS encourages recovery and, ultimately, improves lives.
History
The precursor to The BASIS was The Weekly Addiction Gambling Education Report (The WAGER), which first appeared on January 30, 1996. Dr. Howard Shaffer and Tom Cummings created The WAGER in collaboration with the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling. Anticipating the 10th anniversary of The WAGER, during 2005, the Division began to expand the types of free science reviews available to the general public and organize other important addiction services within a single web portal. This initiative created The BASIS. To recognize the international issues and readership, The WAGER was renamed the Worldwide Addiction Gambling Education Report.
In addition to The WAGER, The BASIS now offers three weekly science reviews. The Drinking Report for Addiction Medicine (The DRAM) and Addiction Smoking Health Education Service (ASHES) address issues related to alcohol and tobacco use, respectively. Science Threads on Addiction, Substance Use, and Health (STASH) addresses substance use. In addition, an occasional humanities review, Addiction and the Humanities, discusses literature, art, music, and contemporary culture as these relate to addiction. The BASIS provides enduring access to innovative addiction self-help tools and addiction resources.
The Division on Addiction at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, is one of the country’s premier centers for the study of addictive behavior. The Division is entirely self-funded through grants, gifts, and contracts. Readers who are interested in supporting The BASIS can make donations here.
Suggested Use
We encourage public, nonprofit, and educational organizations to link to our web site or use our materials for training and discussion. We encourage the reproduction and free dissemination of our materials; however, individuals and organizations should not change materials in any way and should give proper credit.
Research, Writing, Resources, Administration and Development
- Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S., Editor-in-Chief
- Heather M. Gray, Ph.D., Senior Editor & Interim Editor
- Timothy Edson, Ph.D., Series Editor, ASHES
- Eric Louderback, Ph.D., Series Editor, The WAGER
- Matthew Tom, Ph.D., Series Editor, The DRAM
- Caitlyn Fong, M.P.H., Writer and Content Manager
- Kira Landauer, M.P.H., Writer and Content Manager
- Nakita Sconsoni, M.S.W., Writer and Content Manager
- Taylor Lee, Writer
- Seth McCullock, Ph.D., Writer
- John Slabczynski, Writer
The BASIS Editorial Board (2020-2021)
Brett Abarbanel, Ph.D.
Director of Research
International Gaming Institute
Assistant Professor
William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration
University of Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Mark J. Albanese, M.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Medical Director, Addictions
Cambridge Health Alliance
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Bo Bernhard, Ph.D.
Executive Director, International Gaming Institute
Professor, Sociology and Hospitality
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
J. Wesley Boyd, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Staff Psychiatrist
Cambridge Health Alliance
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Elda Chan Mei-Lo, Ph.D.
Director, St. John's Cathedral Counselling Service
Central Hong Kong
Jeffrey L. Derevensky, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
Professor and Director of Clinical Training, School/Applied Child Psychology
Educational & Counseling Psychology
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
McGill University
Director
International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviors
Montreal, Canada
Lance Dodes, M.D.
Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus
Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute
Former Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School (retired)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Luke A. Downey, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Human Psychopharmacology
Swinburne University of Technology
Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Visiting Research Fellow
Swansea University
Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom
Sally Gainsbury, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
Gambling Treatment Clinic & Research Group
Senior Lecturer
School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
Editor
International Gambling Studies
Sydney, Australia
Dean Hestermann, M.A.
Director, Public Affairs
Caesars Entertainment Cooperation
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Robert Ladouceur, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
School of Psychology
Laval University
Quebec, Canada
Debi LaPlante, Ph.D.
Director, Division on Addiction
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Malden, Massachusetts, USA
Ryan J. Martin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Education and Promotion
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Lisa Najavits, Ph.D.
Director, Treatment Innovations
Adjunct Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Sarah Nelson, Ph.D.
Director for Research, Division on Addiction
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Malden, Massachusetts, USA
Joanne Peterson
Founder and Executive Director, Learn to Cope
Taunton, Massachusetts, USA
Kahlil Philander, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Washington State University - Carson College of Business
Pullman, Washington, USA
Simon Planzer, Ph.D., M.A.
Lecturer in Law
University of St.Gallen
Attorney at Law
Planzer Law
Zurich, Switzerland
Mark N. Potenza, Ph.D., M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, in the Child Study Center and of Neuroscience;
Director, Center of Excellence in Gambling Research; Director, Yale Program
for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders; Director, Women
and Addictive Disorders, Women's Health Research at Yale
Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
I. Nelson Rose, J.D.
Professor, Whittier Law School
Costa Mesa, California, USA
Kathleen M. Scanlan, MA
Former Executive Director, Association of Problem Gambling Service Administrators
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
William G. Shadel, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Population Health Program
Senior Behavioral Scientist
RAND Corporation
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Edmond Talbot
Executive Director, New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling
Member, New Hampshire Council for Responsible Gambling
Concord, New Hampshire, USA
Doug Walker, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
College of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Heather Wardle, Ph.D.
Head of Gambling & Place Research Hub
Geofutures
Associate Research Director
NatCen Social Research
London, United Kingdom
Martina Whelshula, Ph.D.
Independent Researcher
Member of the Arrow Lakes Nation of the Colville Tribe
Spokane Valley, Washington, USA
Ken C. Winters, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor (affiliated), Department of Psychiatry
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Harold Wynne, Ph.D.
Wynne Resources
Calmar, Alberta, Canada