Drug Use and Addiction Drug Use and Abuse Although drug abuse can have harmful results, people can use it for more than one of the reasons, and may also use several drugs for different reasons. Distinguishing the 'how?' and 'why?' of a person's drug use is rarely an easy task, but most people use a drug because they enjoy the effects. This may seem like a simplistic or insensitive statement, but it's a fact that's easily forgotten by the people around the drug user, who are concerned and trying to understand why they're using drugs. Worried parents often ask for warning sings of drug use, but the simple answer is that it's very hard to spot. Many users who have contact with mental health services manage to conceal their use from the professionals, so it's obviously difficult to identify. Parents usually know their children better than anyone else, and maintaining an open atmosphere in which communication is kept up is often the best way to find out what's going on. This is not always easy with teenagers, as they might view the methods parents use to find out if their children are using drugs as intrusive and controlling. And angry confrontations with teenagers might push them further into a cycle of annoyance and refusal to communicate. The use of chemicals to alter the way we feel and see things in one of the oldest activities of the human race. But a person's use of a drug such as tobacco, alcohol, cannabis or heroin can become uncontrolled, or start to control them. Even when the use of these drugs leads to serious physical and mental problems, the person may still not want to stop using them. But, if they do decide to give up, they may find it% harder than they thought. What Are the Symptoms? There are a lot of confusing different words used to describe drug use and addiction problems. Not every expert will agree with the definitions here, but being consistent with the terms used helps to reduce the confusion and anxiety everyone feels when faced with this problem. Each drug has different patterns of: •use •poison •overdose •hangover(残留). For each different drug, the 'substance abuse' can cover different levels of use, including: •experimenting with use •using large amounts without appearing poisoned •using large amounts to get poisoned. Psychological Addiction The media's picture of a person giving up drugs usually focuses on the immediate effects of withdrawing from heroin. It's important to remember that there's often more to an addiction than the physical withdrawal symptoms. In fact, for some drugs such as cannabis or heroin, there's a debate about whether there are actually any physical symptoms of withdrawal. People who use heroin regularly over a long period may find that there are certain situations where they come to rely on the drug. If they stop using the drug, they may feel very disabled. This is a situation that can develop for almost any substance that effects the mind, and this aspect of addiction can be harder to overcome than the physical symptoms. Mental symptoms can include: •anxiety •depression •sleep and rest •controlling mood •relearning different coping skills. The pattern of these symptoms will depend on the drug used, the psychological make-up of the person and the circumstances under which they are attempting to remain drug-free. The term craving is often used when talking about psychological addiction. If a person is experiencing any of the symptoms listed above and they know that by using the drug all these problem will go away, it's not s