substance misuse

by **Admin** Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:55 am

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse and substance use disorder, is a patterned/constant or regular use of a substance which continues in spite of negative side effects such as physical, psychological or social harm.

Widely differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, medical and criminal justice contexts.

The exact cause of substance abuse is not clear, with theories including: a genetic disposition; a coping strategy that becomes maladaptive; behaviour learned from others - or a habit which, if addiction develops, becomes a chronic, debilitating disease.

Addiction can be psychological or physical, depending on the substance.

In the UK, there are many schemes and resources available to combat substance abuse. Some of them are better than others.

Most of these resources involve theories and concepts such as:

-harm reduction

-12 steps/AA approach

-peer support/group counselling

-abstinence

-medications

-detox

-residential treatment

-withdrawal