Difference between Drug Abuse and Addiction
Is drug abuse and drug addiction the same thing?
The answer is “no”, although the terminologies tend to be used interchangeably despite the fact that there are some minor differences between the two. Basically, the differences are:
- Drug addiction is the compulsive and uncontrollable, physical and/or psychological craving for or dependency on a substance. It refers to a disorder wherein the drug is the dominant influence in the individual’s life.
- Drug abuse is the excessive and/or habitual use of a drug or drugs in order to alter one’s emotions, moods, or state of consciousness. It refers to the use of a drug that is not culturally acceptable.
Another significant point is the fact that drug abuse can eventually lead to addiction but it never happens the other way around. Granted the differences between the two are slight, but they are significant enough to warrant different treatment and recovery therapies.
Why is distinguishing between the two terminologies so important?
One of the reasons that it is so important to distinguish between drug abuse and addiction was mentioned above – they require different methods of treatment and recovery therapies. In addition to the physical dependencies that occur, there is oftentimes a psychological dependency occurring as well. Psychological dependence is not always seen as being equivalent to addiction. However, just like with physical dependence, the individual must have the substance in order to function psychologically.
Another key issue is that, even though the substance is required for that individual to function psychologically, the desire or motivation for obtaining more of it is not as strong as what characterizes addiction. Needless to say, there are numerous instances of the use of a particular substance that constitutes substance abuse but not substance addiction, whether you are talking about alcohol or drugs.
As an example, the use of alcohol or drugs is considered abuse even if it is only used on the rarest of occasions. Afterwards, the individual typically regains control of their behavior whereas this is not always the case when an addiction is present. There have been cases where the person loses some control, but it is still not regarded as drug addiction. The bottom line is that the definition of drug abuse is determined by the society where it exists.
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