How Do You Know if You Are a Drug Addict?
A. Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP, Kaushik Misra, Ph.D., Amy K. Epner, Ph.D., and Galen Morgan Cooper, Ph.D. , edited by C. E. Zupanick, Psy.D.Drug addiction is a broad term that describes significant problems with drug use. It is not a diagnostic term recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Nonetheless, it a commonly used term that generally includes an impaired ability to limit drug use, despite the harmful consequences of continued use. In this respect, alcoholism meets the definition of addiction. In our topic center on addiction, addiction is defined as:
Addiction is the repeated involvement with a substance or activity, despite the substantial harm it now causes, because that involvement was (and may continue to be) pleasurable and/or valuable.
Therefore, drug addiction is a specific type of addiction. In the article entitled, What is drug addiction? we listed the many harmful consequences of drug use that meet this definition of addiction. You might like to review that list of consequences for an informal self-assessment to determine if you might have a drug addiction. In the next section, we discuss the formal way that healthcare professionals determine whether someone has an addiction to drugs.
Resources
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Articles
- What is Drug Addiction?
- Drug Addiction: How Big a Problem Is it?
- What Causes Drug Addiction?
- How Do You Get Addicted to Drugs?
- The Biological Causes of Drug Addiction
- The Psychological Causes of Drug Addiction
- Drug Addiction and Other Psychological Disorders
- Socio-Cultural Forces That Lead to Drug Addiction
- The Spirituality of Drug Addiction and Recovery
- How Do You Know if You Are a Drug Addict?
- Diagnosis: The Signs and Symptoms of Drug Addiction
- The Diagnostic Criteria of Substance-Induced Disorders
- Cannabis-Related Disorders (Marijuana)
- Hallucinogen-Related Disorders
- Inhalant-Related Disorders
- Opioid-Related Disorders (Heroin, Oxycontin®, Vicodin® and other pain medications)
- Sedative-, Hypnotic-, Or Anxiolytic-Related Disorders
- Stimulant Use Disorder: Amphetamine Type (e.g., methamphetamine)
- Four Key Ingredients to Successful Recovery from Drug Addiction
- Guidelines for Choosing Drug Addiction Treatment Options
- Drug Addiction Treatment Choices
- Drug Addiction FAQs
- Addiction References
- Addiction Resources
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Links
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Videos
- Research on Opioid Use
- Treating Pain without Opiates
- Why People Can Become Addicted to Opioids
- The Swiss Cheese Model of Drug Addiction
- Chronic Pain, Heroin and the US Epidemic of Opioid Abuse
- How to Tell if a Loved One is Abusing Opioids
- NIDA Emerging Drugs-Methylone and Molly
- Advice to Parents | Drugs & College 101
- Addiction: Treat It Like a Disease
- Cocaine Abuse
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16 more
- Treatment of Addiction
- Opioid Use: An American Epidemic
- What is Addiction?
- Drugs: Shatter The Myths
- Why are Drugs So Hard To Quit
- Anyone Can Become Addicted to Drugs
- Cannabis Effects on Driving Performance
- NIDA’s Dr. Phil Skolnick discusses intranasal naloxone
- "Eyes On" Research in Drugged Driving
- How Will Anti-Drug Vaccines Be Used? An Interview With Dr. Thomas Kosten
- Naloxone Rescue Kits
- The Reward Circuit: How the Brain Responds to Cocaine
- The Reward Circuit: How the Brain Responds to Methamphetamine
- The Reward Circuit: How the Brain Responds to Marijuana
- The Reward Circuit: How the Brain Responds to Natural Rewards and Drugs
- Substance Use Disorders/Addictions - Clinical Overview
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