Habituation to, abuse of, and/or addiction to a chemical substance. Largely because of psychological craving, the life of the drug-dependent person revolves around the need for the specific effect of one or more chemical agents on mood or state of consciousness. The term thus includes not only the addiction (which emphasizes the physiological dependence) but also drug abuse (in which the pathological craving for drugs seems unrelated to physical dependence). Substances capable of inducing dependence include alcohol, opiates, synthetic analgesics with morphine-like effects, barbiturates, other hypnotics, sedatives, certain anxiolytics, cocaine, psychostimulants, marijuana, and psychotomimetic drugs.
Habituation or addiction to a drug or drugs.
A state, psychic and sometimes also physical, resulting from the interaction between a person and a drug, characterized by behavioral and other responses that always include a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis in order to experience its psychic effects, and sometimes to avoid the discomfort and other physical effects of its withdrawal or absence. Tolerance for the drug may or may not be present. A person may be dependent on more than one drug. Its characteristics will vary with the agent involved, and this must be made clear by designating the particular type of drug dependence in each specific case—for example, drug dependence of narcotic type, of cannabis type, of barbiturate type, of amphetamine type, etc. As defined here drug dependence may or may not be dangerous to the dependent individual or the public, severe, or illegal. Psychic and physical dependence arc sometimes separated, although this is difficult definitionally and in practice. Psychic dependence is sometimes called habituation and physical dependence called addiction, but both terms are irregularly used, as are all terms in this area.
Condition in which one craves or depends on a particular drug that one is accustomed to taking.
A psychic (and sometimes physical) state resulting from interaction of a living organism and a drug. Characteristic behavioral and other responses include a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis to experience its psychic effects or to avoid the discomfort of its absence. Tolerance may be present. A person may become dependent on more than one drug.
The irresistible urge to persist in consuming a substance to either avoid the negative repercussions associated with its absence or to generate the intended results of its intake.
Dependency on drugs can manifest in both psychological and physical forms, often simultaneously. When an individual is psychologically dependent, they may feel an intense yearning or experience distress during periods of withdrawal from the drug. On the other hand, physical dependency is characterized by the body’s adaptation to the substance, which triggers withdrawal symptoms when the use of the drug ceases. The discomfort of these symptoms can be alleviated by reintroducing the drug into the system.
Dependency often emerges due to habitual or excessive consumption of drugs, particularly those that have the ability to modify one’s mood or behavior.
Dependency on drugs can lead to physical health issues, such as lung and heart diseases associated with smoking, or liver disease from excessive drinking. Psychological disturbances like anxiety and depression are often seen during withdrawal from the substance. Furthermore, drug dependency can correlate with increased tolerance, where larger quantities of the substance are required to achieve the same results.
Individuals who inject drugs run a specific risk of encountering complications like hepatitis or AIDS. Fatal outcomes might arise from consuming adulterated substances, or inadvertently overdosing due to consumption of a more pure, stronger variant of the drug than what they are accustomed to.
Specialized centers and hospitals offer managed withdrawal programs, typically involving carefully supervised dosage reduction. These institutions may provide alternative substances that are less harmful, alongside treatments to ease withdrawal symptoms. Follow-up care is often offered through social service organizations and support groups. However, the effectiveness of such treatments hinges largely on the individual’s motivation to change. It’s common for issues to resurface if people revert to the environments that initially contributed to the drug abuse.