What Is the Difference Between Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction?
Question by Chronic: What is the difference between drug abuse and drug addiction?
I am witing something freelance and just wondering if anyone can give me an addequite difference between drug abuse and drug addiction.
The definition of an addict is: 1. To cause to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance
2. To occupy (oneself) with or involve (oneself) in something habitually or compulsively
Definition of drug abuse: he use of illegal drugs or the inappropriate use of legal drugs. The repeated use of drugs to produce pleasure, to alleviate stress, or to alter or avoid reality (or all three).
The use of a drug for a purpose other than that for which it is normally prescribed or recommended.
the habitual misuse of a chemical substance
They are very similar definitions. Almost the same.
Why are people either classified as a drug abuser or a drug addict? Drug abusers don’t usually get the intese care an addict does. Remember, the definition for addic includes psychological addiction… not just physical.
Best answer:
Answer by Nico
drug abuse-when you get pain killers from the doctor and you take too many for the effects
addiction is when you can’t stop taking them,because you’re addicted to them.
drug abuse usually comes before addiction
What do you think? Answer below!
1. What is the difference between drug abuse and drug addiction? – Drug abuse and drug addiction are different conditions. Medically, problems with drug abuse and drug addiction (dependence) are each diagnosed with specific criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). To be diagnosed with a drug abuse problem, a person would exhibit any one of four specific signs during a one-year period. To be diagnosed with a drug addiction or dependence problem, a person would exhibit any three out of seven specific signs during a one-year period. Some experts use other definitions for drug abuse and addiction exist. For example, abuse can be defined as any use of an illegal substance or the inappropriate use of a legal substance to produce pleasure, reduce stress, or escape reality (or all three). Even if the drug use doesn’t cause problems that need medical treatment (at least early on), this definition would include use of drugs for experimentation—which can still be harmful—and use of substances such as nicotine or alcohol by minors. Perhaps the primary distinction between abuse and addiction relates to the compulsion of an addict to get their next fix. The addict’s focus is almost exclusively on getting more of the drug. Addiction causes a person to lose control over his or her drug use—it is no longer a choice.
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