What Is The Difference Between Substance Abuse and Addiction?

What is the difference between substance abuse and addiction?

Substance Abuse v. Substance Addiction

I felt led to write this because I believe it’s important to understand the difference between Abuse and Addiction. A good place to start is establishing a working definition of the two.

Substance Abuse: Using drugs or alcohol to the point that it is harmful to yourself and/or others, but not necessarily to the point of physical or mental dependency or a loss of control.

Substance Addiction: A chronic brain disease where a person cannot stop using a substance despite negative consequences.

Something that jumps out to me as a massive distinction is the idea of “decision versus dependence.” A substance abuser looks like the guy who waits until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, hits happy hour for a couple of drinks with co-workers, and then, instead of going directly home, he decides to embark on another adventure. The “let’s see where this night takes me” guy. He will consume much more than he should, he will act out of character, and he will most likely risk driving home despite the possibility of consequences. He makes a decision to do all of these things. It’s calculated chaos.

Now, let’s talk about the addict. For the sake of comparison, let’s say that he works with our other guy. Our addict isn’t waiting for 5:00 p.m. on Friday. He isn’t even able to start typing his reports until he gets a few “maintenance” sips of the liquor he keeps in his desk. At noon, he has a beer with his burger that eventually turns into three. And, by 2:30 p.m., he’s counting the seconds until happy hour. Once happy hour starts, it’s off to the races. With the addict, it goes like this: craving, obsession, consumption until oblivion.

The differences are clear, but as the abuser continues his path, he increases the risk of graduating from weekend warrior to professional consumer. The more a person consumes, the more they crave the resulting effect. The more a person consumes, the more they tolerate. Which means they need more and more to get the same effect as before, thus the cycle of dependency or “addiction” is born.

The abuser, in their early stages of consumption, has the ability to make a choice to stop. This can come in the form of an intervention or a catastrophe that gives them a “come to Jesus experience,” as I like to call it. It’s always preferable that the abuser come to the decision of abstinence early without collateral damage. But, it’s likely that as they increase their tolerance to the substance, they also increase their ability to present as operating efficiently. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where the functioning addict is born.

If you or someone you love is in one of these two camps or somewhere in between, reach out as soon as possible. Full-blown addiction is a challenging road to overcome, but there is HOPE. You are not alone, and your story could be the inspiration that saves the next person’s life.