Physical and psychological addiction: What’s the difference?

Physical and psychological addiction: What’s the difference?

5The median raphe nucleus is an area in the brain stem that contains a large proportion of the brain’s serotonin neurons and therefore significantly supplies the brain with this important neurotransmitter. Serotonin can influence CRF activity both within and outside the HPA axis.

To fight back, comprehensive substance abuse treatment is necessary. Learn more about addiction treatment by contacting Authentic Recovery Center at [Direct]. The reader may suspect that Dick was returning to alcoholic drinking at the end of analysis and that if I had further contact with him, I would have learned that psychoanalysis does not cure alcoholism. The combination of ignorance regarding addiction, and grandiosity regarding the therapeutic power of psychoanalysis, is well known. Dick became so busy with work, and eventually drinking, and so comfortingly punished by their consequences, that he continued with these addictions until his boss told him that his character/defensive style would not be tolerated. Unlike his mother, his boss noticed his distress, and wanted him to be taken care of.

Drug withdrawal

Despite this, chemical dependence must be treated as a whole for it to work. Physical dependence alone, meaning the development of a withdrawal syndrome upon abrupt discontinuation of the drug, is not evidence of addiction. Physical dependence occurs over the same time course as tolerance develops to the adverse effects of the opioid analgesics, and is the result of changes in psychological dependence on alcohol the numbers and function of opioid neuroreceptors in the presence of exogenous opioid. For many people, drinking alcohol is nothing more than a pleasant way to relax. People with alcohol use disorders, however, drink to excess, endangering both themselves and others. This question-and-answer fact sheet explains alcohol problems and how psychologists can help people recover.

When someone is drinking alcoholically because they cannot stand their feelings, the reason for the drinking is not to know what they are upset about. When a patient arrives with a compulsion, the treating therapist has to decide whether to focus on stopping the symptom, or on analyzing what the symptom hides in the unconscious. Ideally, one would try to make an individual decision for each person.

Programs With a Focus On Physical Dependence

In the 1980s a new approach emerged that has remained popular in the addiction field – assessing of behaviors by non-clinical interviewers using questions prepared by researchers. These interviewers are sent out to collect information that is analyzed by statistical experts (Cottler and Grant, 2006). This assumption of leadership by statistical experts over clinicians will be challenged with the case presented below. CBT seeks to stop these destructive thoughts before they happen. It allows patients to acknowledge that they exist, why they happen and actively try to change them. A therapist who specializes in CBT may ask a recovering addict to track the thoughts that happen when they want to use drugs and alcohol.

Hard use, where the drug is central in the user’s life, and soft use, where it is merely incidental, are terms of assistance in making this distinction, i.e. what is classified is not the drug but the effect it has on, or the way it is used by, the individual. The term ‘recreational’ is often applied to such use, conferring an apparent sanction that relates more to the latter category. Is alcoholism an habitual addiction or can it also be a chemical one?

Psychological Dependence vs. Addiction

Persons who have psychological dependence are likely to have physical dependence. However, physical dependence without psychological dependence does not indicate addiction. Fear of addiction is an important cause of underprescription of opioids for analgesia (Hill 1993). There is evidence that addiction to opioids is very rare in medical patients (Porter and Jick 1980, Kanner and Foley 1981). Important risk factors for addiction include a history of abuse of street drugs, prescription drugs, or alcoholism. It is important for all patients exposed to opioids to undergo careful screening for all these major risk factors.

• You’re probably dealing with both a physical and psychological dependence in this case.
• There continued to be much work around anger, feeling neglected, and neglecting his own needs.
• His mother denied any abuse, suggesting that he was probably remembering the couple down the street that his parents were friendly with.