Substance Abuse Treatment
Substance abuse is the overindulgence in and dependence of a drug or other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual's physical and mental health, or the welfare of others.
The disorder is
characterized by a pattern of continued pathological use of a
medication, non-medically indicated drug or toxin, that results in
repeated adverse social consequences related to drug use, such as
failure to meet work, family, or school obligations, interpersonal
conflicts, or legal problems. There are on-going debates as to the
exact distinctions between substance abuse and substance dependence,
but current practice standard distinguishes between the two by
defining substance dependence in terms of physiological and
behavioral symptoms of substance use, and substance abuse in terms
of the social consequences of substance use.
Substance abuse may lead to addiction or substance dependence.
Medically, physiologic dependence requires the development of
tolerance leading to withdrawal symptoms. Both abuse and dependence
are distinct from addiction which involves a compulsion to continue
using the substance despite the negative consequences, and may or
may not involve chemical dependency. Dependence almost always
implies abuse, but abuse frequently occurs without dependence,
particularly when an individual first begins to abuse a substance.
Dependence involves physiological processes while substance abuse
reflects a complex interaction between the individual, the abused
substance and society.
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