- published: 01 May 2014
- views: 5037
Substance dependence, commonly called drug addiction is defined as a drug user's compulsive need to use controlled substances in order to function normally. When such substances are unobtainable, the user suffers from substance withdrawal.
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (more specifically, the 2000 "text revision", the DSM-IV-TR) does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:
When an individual persists in use of alcohol or other drugs despite problems related to use of the substance, substance dependence may be diagnosed. Compulsive and repetitive use may result in tolerance to the effect of the drug and withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped. This, along with Substance abuse are considered Substance Use Disorders....
This is far from the only way of defining the relevant terms, however (see "Defining terms" section below).
Doug Sellman at the National Addiction Center offers what he calls "The 10 most important things to know about addiction". He offers the following points, before explaining them in more detail (although even his full paper does not presume to be able to discuss all the important facts about addiction). First, Sellman says that the most important thing to know about addiction may be that addiction is "fundamentally about compulsive behavior" (see also Obsessive compulsive disorder)". Second of all, such habits originate outside of consciousness (i.e. from the unconscious mind). The compulsive sequence of behaviors are so practiced that they can be extremely difficult to avoid initiating, and even harder to interrupt. Sellman maintains, thirdly, that addiction is 50% heritable. In other words, family background and genetics play a large role (see also Nature versus Nurture).