What is substance use disorder? While we all think we know what terms like “addiction” or “drug habit” mean, the clinical definition of substance use disorder is unfamiliar to many of us. Continue reading below to learn a little bit about this disorder and how it manifests.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Version 5 is the newest edition of the book most mental health practitioners use to classify mental health disorders. The “DSM-V” as its commonly known, lists substance use disorder as a disorder that causes clinically significant impairment or distress in a person who uses psychoactive substances.
There are a large number of criteria for this disorder. It is not necessary for a person to satisfy all of them to qualify for a diagnosis, but the more criteria they satisfy the more severe the illness is said to be. Finally, the criteria include:
Substance use disorder is less common than anxiety disorders but more common than some thought disorders, like schizophrenia.
There are risk factors associated with developing substance use disorder, including:
Of course, these risk factors do not guarantee that one will develop this disorder. But they increase the risk that one will.
The DSM-V categorizes substance use disorders as mild, moderate, and severe. As people satisfy more and more criteria of substance use disorder, the degree of severity increases. People with severe substance use disorder suffer from drug addiction.
Substance use disorder is a powerful and difficult illness to combat. Therefore, at the San Antonio Recovery Center, we employ many different treatment modalities and programs to address the whole patient, rather than just a small cluster of symptoms. We offer:
Call us at 866.957.7885 if you’d like to learn how best to banish this insidious disease from your life once and for all.
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