| Abstract: |
Drug addiction is a world wide problem because of its adverse effects on the person and society . Opioids , cocaine, amphetamine , and alcohol are the most common addicting substances. Drug addiction is characterized by tolerance , physical dependence, and withdrawal syndrome. The recent theory explain the mechanism of drug addiction is the neurobiological theory. DSM-IV-TR provides the criteria of diagnosis of drug addiction and withdrawal. Drug screening in urine is the most commonly used drug in diagnosis. Drug addiction affects different body organs as heart, lung, liver, GIT, blood, and CNS. The treatment of the drug addiction includes pharmacological and psychosocial treatment. Pharmacological treatment includes detoxification and maintenance therapy. In ethanol cases benzodiazepines are the most commonly used. Prevention of relapse can be done by using naltrexone, acomprostate, and disulfiram. In opioids addiction , drugs used in dexofication include methadone, buprenorphine, and or clonidine. While that used for maintenance therapy includes methadone, buprenoephine, or buprenophine plus naloxone. New methods for detoxification includes rapid and ultra rapid detoxification. In the cases of cocaine and amphetamine , there is no a drug proven for use in treatment of such conditions but there are many studies trying to find drugs to help in the treatment . Treatment of these cases depends on psychotherapy and symptomatic treatment.
|
|
|