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Drug Abuse

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Abstract

The 1950s ad slogan “better living through chemistry” provides an interesting starting point for this chapter on drug abuse assessment. It is particularly fitting in a time when public sentiment about substance use has never been more ambivalent. At once, society both looks for chemical cures for problems and at the same time tries to eradicate “drug culture.” The substances that we often turn to for help, healing, and stress relief are increasingly themselves problematic. Substance use touches all of us because although drug abuse may involve illegal behavior, many substances of abuse are covertly sanctioned and promoted and others are both legal and openly promoted for controlled use in our society (Goldstein, 2001). These contradictions may contribute to the confusion so many mental health practitioners appear to experience over the assessment of substance use and abuse. In this arena, as much as any other set of disorders, it is particularly important to remain cognizant of the ambivalence we may experience as participants in our own cultural and personal contexts. It is with this in mind that the reader is invited to consider the artificial nature of distinctions between legal, illegal, over the counter, and prescription substances. This chapter concerns substances of abuse other than alcohol, which is addressed in a separate chapter. The present chapter discusses drugs of abuse, their costs, common terms, recent use statistics, diagnostic criteria, a case illustration, procedures for gathering information, commonly used standardized interview formats and tools, and “dos and don’ts” to keep in mind in the diagnostic interview.

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Antick, J., Goodale, K. (2003). Drug Abuse. In: Hersen, M., Turner, S.M. (eds) Diagnostic Interviewing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4963-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4963-2_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4965-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4963-2

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