What is Alcohol and Substance Abuse?

Substance abuse is the overindulgence in and dependence on an addictive substance, especially alcohol or a narcotic drug. Also called chemical abuse, substance abuse is a pervasive problem in the United States today. The substances abused can be illegal drugs such as marijuana and cocaine, or legal substances used improperly, such as prescription drugs.

Drug addiction can be emotional and psychological, or have a predominantly biochemical basis, or both. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration refers to psychological dependence as the subjective feeling that the user needs the drug to maintain a feeling of well-being, whereas physical dependence is characterized by tolerance; the need for increasingly larger doses in order to achieve the initial effect; and withdrawal symptoms when the user stops.
 
 
People who are addicted to drugs:

• Experience negative consequences associated with using but continue to use despite those consequences.
   
• Set limits on how much or how often they will use but unexpectedly exceed those limits.
   
• Promise themselves and/or other people that they will use in moderation but break those promises.
   
• Feel guilty or remorseful about their using but still fail to permanently alter the way they use.
   
• Get complaints about their using and resent, discount, and/or disregard those comments and complaints.

While it may appear that addictions are solely pleasure-seeking behaviors, the roots of addiction can also be traced to a wish to suppress or avoid some kind of emotional pain.

Medically defined, addiction is a disease in which there is impaired control, preoccupation with drugs and/or alcohol, continued use in the face of adverse consequences, and distorted thinking. Generally speaking, addiction is the repeated use that causes trouble in the individual's personal, professional, family or school life. When someone with an addiction continues their use, they can't always predict when they'll stop, how much they'll use, or what the consequences of their behavior will be. Denial of the negative effects in their lives is common for the individual and those close to them. Our responsibility is to assist each individual with respect and integrity find a new way of life. You don't have to do this alone.