Substance Use Disorders Flashcards
What are the two major categories of substance related disorders?
1) Substance use disorders
2) Substance-induced disorders
What is a substance USE disorder?
Pattern of maladaptive behaviour involving the use of a psychoactive substance.
-Include substance-abuse and substance dependence disorders
What is a substance INDUCED disorder?
Disorders induced by the use of psychoactive substances
-Include intoxication, withdrawal symptoms, mood disorders, delirium, amnesia
What does the person do in a substance abuse/use disorder?
Continue using psychoactive drug even though they know it is contributing to a recurrent problem.
-Have impaired control over the use of the drug, often characterized by physiological dependence
Determining feature of substance abuse = whether a pattern of drug using behaviour becomes repeatedly linked to damaging consequences
3 types of dependence that result from Substance Abuse?
1) Addiction- impaired control over habitual use of chemical substance accompanied by physiological dependence
2) Physiological Dependence- physical dependence on drug which the user’s body comes to depend on a steady supply of –> development of tolerance
3) Psychological Dependence- reliance on a substance, although one may not be physically dependent, you believe you need it
What are the 3 most commonly used drugs in North America?
1) Tobacco (25%)
2) Alcohol (15%)
3) Marijuana (5%)
Alcohol and tobacco cause more deaths than any other drugs combined
What are the 3 Pathways to Drug Dependence?
- Experimentation
- Routine Use
- Addiction or Dependence
What substance is an example of a depressant?
Alcohol
What are risk factors for alcohol?
- Gender: men start earlier but women catch up quick
- Age: onset prior to age 40
- Antisocial personality disorder: increases risk
- Family history: genetic component as result of modelling
- Sociodemographic factors: low income, education, increases risk of alcohol use
Can therapy be done when someone is drunk or high?
No, therapy is typically done when people are in recovery stage, not in active addiction stages
What are some results of Substance abuse?
Tolerance Withdrawal Tachycardia Delirium Tremens Delirium Disorientation
What is tolerance?
Body needs more of that substance to produce same physiological repsonse
What is withdrawal syndrome?
When you stop a substance you have been on for a while, you see symptoms such as nausea, sweating, depression
What is tachycardia?
An abnormally rapid heart rate
What is Delirium Tremens?
When you stop taking drug, characterized by extreme restlessness, sweating, hallucinations, disorientation
What is Delirium?
Mental confusion, disorientation, difficulty focusing
What is Disorientation?
State of mental confusion, lack of awareness with respect to time, place or identity of oneself or others
What is experimentation?
Try it, feel good, gives you state of euphoria, feel in control, may be a result of peer pressure
-drug temporarily makes user feel good. User feels in control
What is Routine Use?
DENIAL that you have a problem. Begin to structure lives around the pursity and use of drugs. Person begins changing daily lives and values for the substance, selling things for money, not showing up to work, lying about things
What is Addiction or Dependence stage?
Feel powerless to the drug, no longer in control, body is craving it
-little or nothing else matters
What is the leading cause of death in young people?
Usually involves alcohol
-Alcohol is connected with suicides and car accidents
What are the psychological effects of alcohol?
Believe that the drug is going to make you more social, calm, funny, relaxed
What does AA believe about alcoholism?
It is a disease, you are always in recovery, never cured
What is Alcohol-Induced Persisting Amnestic?
Brain damage, loss of memory and replace with fake ones as a result of too much alcohol
What is the relationship between alcohol and cancer?
Alcoholism leads to higher rates of cancer
Is there a health benefit to moderate drinking?
Does have benefit on the heart, but no more than 2 drinks per day
Alcohol in relation to ethnicity
Heaviest toll on First Nations
- Jewish have low alcohol related problems
- Asian people less
What are Barbiturates?
SEDATIVES
- 1% population abuse these
- Relaxing, reduce anxiety, induce sleep
- Get prescribed these to help with sleep, then keep using them (usually middle aged people)
- popular street drugs because give mild state of “high”
- abrupt withdrawal can produce states of delirium that are life threatening