Article: 7155 of alt.support.depression.medication From: "Chip" Newsgroups: alt.support.depression.medication Subject: Addiction.....Dependence........Withdrawal Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 10:45:18 -0700 Organization: N/A Lines: 46 Message-ID: Reply-To: "Chip" NNTP-Posting-Host: dialup-67.74.49.46.dial1.sanfrancisco1.level3.net (67.74.49.46) X-Trace: fu-berlin.de 1055007886 13408189 67.74.49.46 (16 [82687]) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Path: news.meer.net!sea-read.news.verio.net!dfw-artgen!dfw-peer!news.verio.net!newsfeeds.nerdc.ufl.edu!solaris.cc.vt.edu!news.vt.edu!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!uni-erlangen.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!dialup-67.74.49.46.dial1.sanfrancisco1.level3.NET!not-for-mail Xref: archive.mv.meer.net alt.support.depression.medication:7155 Addiction.....Dependence........Withdrawal "Addiction and dependence are frequently confused. 'Addiction' is hard to define, with little consensus on what it means, and in fact is not even defined as a condition in the DSM-IV. 'Addiction' usually refers to a behavioral pattern of drug abuse characterized by overwhelming involvement with use of a drug (compulsive use) and with the securing of its supply and by a high tendency to relapse after discontinuation. The term 'addiction' is frequently employed by those who are not experts in psychopharmacology when 'dependence' is what they mean. 'Dependence' is a physiological state of neuroadaptation produced by repeated administration of a drug, necessitating continued administration to prevent the appearance of a 'withdrawal syndrome'. 'Dependence' is a term that is not frequently used outside of psychopharmacology but in fact is a key feature of many antihypertensive medications, hormones, and other treatments throughout medicine. Thus several antihypertensives can produce 'rebound' hyptertension, worse than the original blood pressure elevation, when suddenly discontinued. These patients are not 'addicted' to the blood pressure medications although they are 'dependent' on them. 'Withdrawal' is the term for the adverse psychological and physiological reactions to abrupt cessation of a dependence-producing drug." from: Essential Psychopharmacology, 2nd Edition (2000), Stephen M. Stahl, published by Cambridge University Press (Dr. Stahl is a PhD and MD, and is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. He has conducted numerous research projects awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Veterans Administration, and the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Stahl is an internationally recognized clinician, researcher, and teacher in psychiatry with subspecialty expertise in psychopharmacology.)