Topic: diagnosis

But it’s still confusing for many people outside the field, since unlike psychiatry, they don’t revise their thinking every couple decades.

Many so-called “heavy drinkers” do in fact meet criteria for an AUD, but quite a few do not.

Here’s something else familiar: That preoccupation with obtaining and protecting the supply.

Her definition of social drinking was any alcohol consumed in the company of other human beings.

A Federal judge once concluded in a famous lawsuit: It was clear that psychiatrists get together to define various disorders, and then every so often, get back together to redefine them.

It certainly makes sense that if you suffer from a major mental illness, you should stay away from pot.

Newcomers had a tendency to focus their attention on the drug that brought them to treatment, ignoring others they happened to have been using.

Perhaps 20% of users will experience withdrawal– evidence of their dependence on the drug– regardless of whether they have other symptoms.

There’s a lag between the onset of an addictive disorder and arrival in treatment.

Some observers have criticized us for orienting treatment methods to more severe cases, but that’s predominantly who we see in many forms of treatment.