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Effects of Substance Abuse on Mental Health

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Effects of Substance Abuse on Mental Health
Substance related disorders

Definitions and terms Use This is when a person drinks alcohol or swallows smoke, sniffs or injects a mind altering substance. Abuse This is when a person is using alcohol or drugs for the purpose of intoxication or in the case of prescription for purpose beyond their intended use. Dependence It is the continuing use of alcohol or drugs despite adverse consequences to ones physical, social and psychological wellbeing Addiction This describes that state when the person experiences severe psychological and behavioral dependence on drugs or alcohol Withdrawal effects These are the adverse physical and psychological symptoms that occur when a person ceases using a substance Detoxification It is the process of safely or effectively withdrawing a person from an addictive substance usually under medical supervision Relapse This is the reoccurrence of alcohol or drug dependent behavior in an individual who has previously achieved a maintained abstinence for a significant time beyond the period of detoxification Intoxication It is the psychological and physical effects of the substance which h disappear when a substance is eliminated Tolerance The state in which repeated administration leads to decreasing the effects

Dependence syndrome A person is said to have dependence syndrome they experience three of the following characteristics in the past twelve months 1. a strong desire of compulsion to take the drug 2. difficulty in refraining from using the substance, stopping using it or limiting the amount taken 3. a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has stopped or been reduced 4. Evidence of tolerance a state in which an increasing dose of the substance required to produce the effects originally produced by lower dose. 5. Persistence use of the substance despite clear



References: 1. Fontaine K. L., Fletcher J. S. (1995). Essentials of Mental Health Nursing (3rd Ed.). California: Wesley Nursing. 2. Barlow D. H., Durand V. M. (2002). Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 3rd Edition, Canada: Wadswoath 3. Gelder M., Mayou. R. (1999). Psychiatry (2nd Ed.). New York: Oxford. 4. Njenga.F. (2003). The British Journal of Psychiatry; Focus on Psychiatry in East Africa. At http://www.bjp.repsyc.org retrieved on 18th February 2009. 5. Henry G. (2007). Psychology. New York: W. W. Norton Publishers. 6. Ndetei D. M (2001). The walk towards the promise: a view of mental health in Global, Kenyan and individual perspectives, University of Nairobi: department of psychiatry. 7. Ndetei D. M. (1980) Psychiatry in Kenya, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 62, 201-211.

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