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Addiction Stages, Symptoms,
and Consequences.... |
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There are several different levels of alcohol and
drug use that a person goes through prior to the final stage of Addiction/Dependence.
Nearly everyone uses or has experimented with alcohol and other drugs. For our purposes we
will concentrate on establishing four different and distinct categories or stages of
addiction, they are: Use, Misuse, Abuse and Dependency/Addiction.
These are defined in the following way:
Use
The ingestion of alcohol or other drugs without the experience of any negative
consequences. If a high school kid had drank a beer at a party and his parents had not
found out we could say he had used alcohol. This can apply to any drug.
Misuse
When a person experiences negative consequence from the use of alcohol or other drugs it
is clearly misuse. A large percentage of the population misuses drugs or alcohol at some
point in their lives, however this does not imply that the negative consequences are
minor. For example, a 40-year old man uses alcohol on an infrequent basis, his employer
throws a surprise party and the 40-year old man drinks more than usual and on the way home
he is arrested for DUI. He does not really have a problem with alcohol but in this
instance the consequences is not minor.
Abuse
Continued use of alcohol or other drugs in spite of negative consequences. Lets go
back to the 40-year old man who was arrested for DUI. If he had no substance abuse problem
he would abstain from alcohol, getting a DUI would be enough of a deterrent. However,
shortly thereafter this man goes to another party and there he drinks in excess and then
gets behind the wheel of his car, this would be considered abuse.
Dependency/Addiction
The compulsive use of alcohol or other drugs regardless of adverse or negative
consequences. For example, a man received three DUI's in one year. He was on probation and
would be sentenced to one year in prison if he was caught using alcohol but he continued
to drink. The man would be clearly addicted to alcohol because the negative consequences
did not impact or deter his use.
In the event that an individual is clearly in the first or
second stage (use or misuse) there are no indications that he will naturally progress to
the final stages. However, once the individual has reached the abuse stage there is a high
probability that they will progress into dependency on the drugs or alcohol and
professional help should be sought out. |
