Substance abuse is a complicated disease and there are varying levels of addiction. It’s important to correctly assess the person’s addiction in order to determine the type of treatment they should receive. This is why assessment of patients is done only by qualified medical personnel. How does one assess substance abuse? Let’s take a look-
Physical Assessment
The first thing that doctors or addiction counselors look for are the symptoms of drug or alcohol addiction. Substance abuse is characterized by the compulsive need to drink alcohol or use drugs. Patients exhibit symptoms like cravings, sweating, nausea and tremors especially when that need isn’t met.
Psychological Assessment
The goal of psychological assessments is to determine the patient’s mental health and determine whether he/she is suffering from addiction. Patients are asked about the length of the abuse, any addiction patterns and other associated health, personal and legal problems. Most doctors use the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistic Medical) checklist to check whether the symptoms listed on it are being exhibited by the patient.
Aside from the doctor’s professional opinion, this assessment is largely dependent on the patient’s willingness to discuss the problem. If possible, information provided by family and friends help addiction counselors verify the presence of addiction and its severity.
Medical Assessment
Addiction testing can only determine that the individual is using drugs or alcohol but there’s no definite medical test to determine substance abuse. However, addiction treatment centers usually conduct other examination to test for addiction-related diseases or conditions like poor nutrition or liver damage. Routine urine or blood test may be administered as well to check for relapse.
As mentioned above, substance abuse is a complex disease and the best way to treat it is to fully understand it. Hence, the need for accurate and detailed assessment of one’s addiction is of outmost importance. Therefore, if you or someone you love is abusing substances, talk to an addiction counselor now.