Relapse Prevention - What is the difference between Use and Abuse?
Tom Wilson Counseling Center
Use: Drugs may be used in a socially accepted or medically sanctioned manner to modify or control mood or state of mind. Examples include having a drink with a friend or taking an anti-anxiety agent for an acute anxiety state in accordance with a physician's prescription.Substance Misuse: An isolated episode of alcohol or other drug misuse that caused a problem in health, legal, job, social, emotional or other areas of your life. Examples include drinking too much at a New Year's Eve party but have not experienced any other problems in the last year.
Substance Abuse: Defined as having more than one problem from use in the last 12 months, i.e. legal, financial, marital, work, health, or psychological problems as a result of use.
Addiction: Characterized by the repeated, compulsive seeking or use of a substance despite adverse social, psychological and/or physical consequences. A wide range of substances, both legal and illegal, can be addictive. Addiction is often (but not always) accompanied by physical dependence, a withdrawal syndrome and tolerance. Physical dependence is defined as a physiologic state of adaptation to a substance, the absence of which produces symptoms and signs of withdrawal.Withdrawal: Withdrawal syndrome consists of a predictable group of signs and symptoms resulting from abrupt removal of, or a rapid decrease in the regular dosage of, a psychoactive substance.
Tolerance: A state in which a drug produces a diminishing biologic or behavioral response; in other words, higher doses are needed to produce the same effect that the user experienced initially. Factors contributing to the development of addiction include the reinforcing properties and availability of the drug, family and peer influences, sociocultural environment, personality and existing psychiatric disorders. Genetic heritage appears to influence susceptibility to alcohol addiction, and possibly addiction to tobacco and other drugs as well .
Detoxification: The process by which an individual who is physically dependent on a substance is withdrawn from it. The primary objective of detoxification is to relieve withdrawal symptoms while the patient adjusts to a drug-free state. It is not, in itself, a treatment for addiction, because it does not affect the long-term course of addiction.Relapse is a return to drug use after a significant period of abstinence. Relapses may occur over a period of years, because continued recovery requires a series of profound behavioral, social, psychological and physical changes.
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