Alcohol and Substance Abuse (Essay Sample)

Alcohol and Substance Abuse Name: School Affiliation: Date: The act of using alcohol does not necessarily cause an individual an alcoholic, but addiction does. Unfortunately, not many people will understand when an individual becomes an alcoholic. In this essay, some terms associated with alcohol and substance abuse are discussed in order to make it easy in understanding the path one follows to become an alcoholic. Addiction is a condition which develops when an individual ingests alcohol or uses other substance to get pleasure, but it finally becomes an obsession which interferes with the daily activity of that individual. Activities such as sex, shopping and gambling could also lead to addiction. When an individual develops some physical symptoms after discontinuation of the drug or reduction of the dosage, the individual is said to have physical dependence. That individual can only act in a certain “normal” way after taking the substance of alcohol (Cohen & Reporting, 2015). Tolerance, on the other hand, is the state of adaptation of the drug. The consumer of alcohol or other substances has their body adapt to the drug, and, therefore, any exposure to that drug leads to a diminution of the drug effect over a period of time. Addiction, physical dependence and tolerance are terms which have been and sometimes used interchangeably, which is wrong (Smith & Sarafino, 2014). Withdrawal is a group of symptoms which emerge when an individual abruptly stops taking substances and alcohol, where that individual has already developed physical dependence. The symptoms will go away as soon as that individual resumes use of the alcohol or other types of drugs he or she may have been using (Smith & Sarafino...