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Introduction
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The phrases substance use disorder or disorders due to psychoactive drug use refer to conditions arising from the abuse of alcohol and psychoactive drugs.
Alcohol and other substances can have varied physiological and psychological effects. In the short term, the individual may perceive these effects as quite desirable. For example, the anxiety-relieving properties of alcohol, the alerting effects of caffeine and the sense of well being induced by opioids. However, prolonged and heavy usage may result in physical harm, dependency and withdrawal problems and long term psychological damage or social harm.
In this section, problems related to alcohol will be discussed first under the general heading of alcohol use disorders. The problems related to drugs would be discussed subsequently under the general heading of substance use disorders.
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