What is drug abuse?
Drug abuse is nothing new considering it has been going on for a couple of centuries as far as medicine and science know. Research into the possible causes of drug abuse has literally been ongoing as well. Drug abuse, which is oftentimes referred to as substance abuse, is a maladaptive behavior pattern involving the use drugs that are considered to be mood-altering or psychoactive in nature. However, substance abuse also includes alcohol, growth or performance enhancement drugs (steroids), of other type of product.
Drug abuse will lead to addiction or dependency if it is not stopped and the individual does not get help from a professional drug abuse rehab center. Additionally, drug abuse is also a type of substance-related disorder, a blanket terminology used to define and describe a number of different conditions that are associated with some type of substance abuse. This includes abuse or harmful use, dependence, intoxication, psychosis, and withdrawal that will involve several substances.
Drug abuse or dependence – what is the difference?
In many instances the term drug abuse is used interchangeably with drug dependence in the field of drug addiction treatment and recovery. This is not always correct as they both are defined differently and apply to different circumstances. Here are the differences:
Drug abuse refers to the harmful misuse of drugs that an individual continues to participate in despite any ill effects that it is having on their health and well-being. Despite the financial, legal, and social consequences, they will continue to abuse drugs.
Drug dependence results when the individual has built up a tolerance for a particular drug and needs to take increasingly larger doses of it in order to achieve the euphoric effect they first experienced when they got “high” using it. Individuals who have a dependency problem or an addiction are likely to experience drug abuse withdrawal symptoms whenever they stop using their drug of choice.
What causes drug abuse withdrawal symptoms?
The primary role of every drug that gets abused is the brain’s pleasure center and its “reward circuitry.” Euphoria or the high that results from drug use is an extremely complex condition that the medical and scientific communities have been studying for decades. Within the brain, there is a specific neurotransmitter known as dopamine, which the activity enhancement of or the release of is directly affected based on the particular drug you are using. When the use of the drug is discontinued, drug abuse withdrawal symptoms result.
These drug abuse withdrawal symptoms can be very mild or they can be extremely severe and cause the individual a great deal of discomfort and pain. For the individual who has been abusing a particular drug for a longer period of time, the withdrawal symptoms tend to be much more severe than for the person who hasn’t been using that long. If you would like more information on drug abuse withdrawal symptoms or would like to know more about a detox program that will help you overcome them, call Blue Water Detox today.
