The Differences Between Use, Abuse And Addiction

joelgonz1982 (60)in #philosophy • 6 years ago

hi friends steemians today I want to talk to you about the differences between use, abuse and addiction are several. Although in colloquial language they are used almost indistinctly, learning what they mean will help us to identify each reality and attribute the meaning that corresponds to it. To understand the importance of the subject itself, let us think that the consumption of substances is one of the problems that most weighs on society and, especially, youth.

Drug addict

On the other hand, studies tell us that the pattern of consumption changes over time. In the eighties and early nineties, the drug most consumed was heroin. At present, its consumption has decreased, but new drugs have appeared, mainly the so-called synthetic drugs.

Tobacco and alcohol are still the most consumed toxic substances, while cannabis and its derivatives are among the group of illegal drugs. Also, note that in the youth population has increased the use of cocaine.

Next we will explain the differences between use, abuse and addiction.

The consumption of substances according to the DSM

Currently, one of the most important standards for diagnosis is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM) and we will refer to it to establish the differences between use, abuse and addiction. More specifically, in the DSM-IV the distinction between abuse and addiction was based on the concept of abuse as a mild or early phase, and addiction as the most severe manifestation of a picture with some similar characteristics.

In practice and for certain cases, the diagnostic criteria referred to the abuse were quite severe. That's why the DSM-5 combines the categories of use and addiction in a unique disorder called substance use disorder. The criteria for this disorder would be the following:

Consumption of large quantities of substance or for a longer time than expected.
Insistent desires to leave or regulate their consumption, but failed efforts to reduce or abandon it.
Investing much of the time trying to get drugs, consuming or recovering.
Intense desire for consumption.
Recurring consumption can lead to noncompliance in academic, work or domestic duties.
It can continue to consume despite recurring problems in the social or interpersonal sphere caused or exacerbated by the effects of consumption.
Important social, occupational or recreational activities are reduced or abandoned due to consumption.
Recurring consumption can occur even in situations where it causes a physical risk.
The person consumes continuously. In addition, it does so in spite of knowing that it suffers from a problem that can probably be caused or exacerbated by such consumption.
Tolerance.
Abstinence.

This is the most current vision of the problem of consumption, but ... What were the differences between use, abuse and addiction that were worked with before?

When you feel trapped there is always a way out

Differences between use, abuse and addiction

In the first place, it is understood as the use of that type of consumption in which, either because of its quantity, frequency or the subject's own situation, no immediate consequences are detected on the consumer or on his environment. It is a really complex term in clinical practice. This is because it is not enough to look at the frequency, because there could be sporadic consumptions in which the subject clearly abused the substance.

In the same way, we can not remain exclusively with the quantity, since there could be little excessive consumption, but so frequent that they would be suggesting some form of dependence. Therefore, one must be very cautious when defining a consumption as "use".

With regard to the term abuse, it could be defined as that form of consumption of substances in which, either by their quantity, frequency and / or by the subject's own situation, there are negative consequences for the consumer or their environment. For example, a woman may be moderate in her habitual consumption of alcohol and tobacco, but if she maintains them during pregnancy she would be abusing her.

Finally, we can understand dependency as that pattern of behavior in which the consumption of a substance is prioritized over other prior priority behaviors. Thus, the consumption of substances, which perhaps began as a sporadic experience without apparent importance, becomes the center of the person's life. In this way, said person will spend most of his time thinking about the consumption of drugs, to look for them, to obtain money to buy them, to consume them, etc.

In short, we must give the importance it deserves to this type of problem and the first step is to be clear about what each concept means. This is, without a doubt, one of the pillars on which to put in place the necessary measures to intervene in each case, helping the current society to become aware of the problem that surrounds us.