Massachusetts Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Rehabilitation Categories
Substance Abuse
Substance abuse has a range of definitions related to disaproval over use or overuse of mood altering substances. These fall into four main categories: Substance abuse may lead to addiction or substance dependence. Medicaly, dependence requires the development of tolerance leading to withdrawal symptoms.Addiction Addiction implies that a drug dependency has developed to such an extent that it has serious detrimental effects on the user (referred to as an addict). They may be chronically intoxicated, have great difficulty stopping the drug use, and be determined to obtain the drug by almost any means. The term addiction is inextricably linked to society's reaction to the user, and so medical experts try to avoid using it, preferring dependence instead.Binge Drinking: According to a rent study conducted by Kathryn Graham, et al of the University of Western Ontario psychology department "Depression is most strongly related to a pattern of binge drinking," Binge Drinking is defined in the study as consuming at least 5 alcoholic beverages at one sitting. Whether Binge Drinking resulted in the development depression or whether depression contributed to a persons binge drinking was unclear in this study. |
