Posted by Squiggles on August 18, 2002, at 10:51:03
In reply to Re: To...Addiction vs. Medical dependence, posted by alan on August 17, 2002, at 20:17:06
Thank you Alan for the hyperlink and
the book suggestion on this subject.I notice that recently the medical community
has begun to use a neologism: "discontinuation
syndrome", referring to the effects which
follow the quitting, cessation, discontinuation
(abrupt or slow) of various drugs. There
are of course old synonyms for this concept, i.e.
"withdrawal syndrome", "dependence", "hooked",
"habituated", "addicted", suggesting that the
person has become accustomed to a certain
dose of the drug every day, and suffers the lack
of the dose if the substance is withdrawn from his
usual daily intake.I think that the term "discontinuation syndrome"
whether it is associated with the concept
of "addiction" or not, is of great help to
people who have been using certain drugs and
having difficult weaning off or getting off,
or withdrawing. I am glad that it has come to
use.I hope you will allow me some more time to
do further research in the purported distinction
between "addiction" and "dependence", as i would
like to reply with a more carefully written
post. Right now, i have personal affairs to
attend to, so i'm sorry i have to interrupt the
discussion.Cheers,
Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:116708
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020814/msgs/116808.html