Drug Abuse (cont.)

While the specific effects of drugs on the brain can vary somewhat depending on the drug that is being used, virtually every drug that is abused has an effect on what professionals often call the executive functioning areas of the brain. The functions of those areas can be remembered by thinking about the tasks of the chief executive officer in any company: planning, organizing, acting when it is time to act, as well as delaying or preventing action (inhibitory functions) when appropriate. The parts of the brain that tend to harbor the executive brain functions are the front-most parts of the brain, called the frontal cortex and prefrontal cortex. When a person takes drugs, the inhibitory functions of the brain are particularly impaired, resulting in the person using drugs and having trouble stopping him or herself from acting on impulses that the brain would otherwise delay or prevent. This disinhibition can result in the substance abuser engaging in aggressive, sexual, criminal, or other activities that can have devastating consequences for the addicted person or those around him or her. Given that the brain of individuals below about the age of 25 years is in the process of actively and rapidly developing and is therefore not fully mature, drug use that takes place during the childhood or teenage years can have particularly devastating effects on the younger person's ability to perform all these important executive functions.

As is true with virtually any mental-health diagnosis, there is no one test that definitively indicates that someone has chemical abuse or addiction. Therefore, health care practitioners diagnose these disorders by gathering comprehensive medical, family, and mental-health information. The practitioner will also either perform a physical examination or request that the individual's primary-care doctor perform one. The medical examination will usually include lab tests to evaluate the person's general health and to explore whether or not the individual currently has drugs in their system or has a medical condition that might have mental-health symptoms.

In asking questions about mental-health symptoms, mental-health professionals are often exploring if the individual suffers from depression and/or manic symptoms but also anxiety, hallucinations, or delusions, as well as some behavioral disorders. Practitioners may provide the people they evaluate with a quiz or self-test as a screening tool for substance abuse or dependence. Since some of the symptoms of drug misuse and dependence can also occur in other mental illnesses, the mental-health screening is to determine if the individual suffers from bipolar disorder, an anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and other psychotic disorders, or a personality or behavior disorder like antisocial personality disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), respectively. Any disorder that is associated with sudden changes in behavior, mood, or thinking, like bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder, borderline personality disorder, or dissociative identity disorder (DID) may be particularly challenging to distinguish from some symptoms of drug abuse or dependence. In order to assess the person's current emotional state, health care providers perform a mental-status examination as well.

In addition to providing treatment that is appropriate to the diagnosis, determining the history or presence of mental illnesses that may co-occur (be co-morbid) with substance abuse or dependence is important in promoting the best possible outcome for the person. As previously described, the dual diagnosis of substance abusing or addicted individuals dictates the need for treatment that addresses both issues in a coordinated way by professionals who are trained and experienced with helping this specific population.

Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/drug_abuse/article.htm