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The Complexities of Addiction and Recovery
Addiction is a concept that is variable, ambiguous and difficult to characterize. Webster defines addiction as “the process of giving oneself habitually or compulsively to something, such as alcohol or narcotics” (Soukhanov & Ellis, 1984, p. 77). While this description somewhat captures the desperate and sinister nature of this process, it remains an incomplete explanation. The Social Work Dictionary(Barker, 1987) refers instead to substance abuse or substance dependence and further describes the phenomena as “ a disorder related to an unhealthy use of alcohol or drugs which includes related negative social, legal or vocational ramifications, a pattern of pathological use (episodic binges), psychological dependence including a desire for continued use and an inability to inhibit that desire, and symptoms of tolerance or withdrawal” (p. 160).
To further specify the parameters of addiction, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V, 2013) combines the DSM-IV categories of substance abuse and substance dependence into a single disorder measured on a continuum from mild to severe and incorporates ten classes of addicting substances — alcohol; caffeine; cannabis; hallucinogens (phencyclidine or similarly acting arylcyclohexylamines, and other hallucinogens, such as LSD); inhalants; opioids; sedatives, hypnotics, or anxiolytics; stimulants…
