Chronic Relapsing Disease: A Case Study

When starting to look at addiction as a chronic relapsing disease it quickly becomes plausible to see how it relates to other relapsing diseases like asthma or diabetes. These diseases are defined by their diagnosis, cause, and pathophysiology (Moal & Koob, 2007). With a comparison between these diseases, and a similar way in which they function, a connection can be made that they are both chronic diseases. Additionally supporting this concept is the strong co-occurance rate that forms between drug addiction and other disorders. Statistically there is a 21% co-occurrance rate for mood disorders, 22-25% rate for anxiety disorders, and a 32-70% rate for personality disorders (Moal & Koob, 2007). Although drug addiction can start out due to an initial vulnerability because of stressful situations or a history of harmful life occurrences, the
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addiction to the used substance does not simply stop there. Even when looking at …show more content…
Even after pro-longed periods of sobriety when the withdrawal symptoms have decreased, there is still a high risk of the individual relapsing. If it wasn’t for this, abusers could simply be locked up away from the drug until their withdrawal symptoms had died out. Instead, the last stage of drug use has been defined as dependence, “a term used to denote the presence of an acquired abnormal state wherein the regular administration of adequate amount of a drug has, through previous prolonged use, become requisite to physiologic equilibrium” (Moal & Koob, 2007). This dependence that occurs during drug use, the need for the feeling of normality, indicates a strong neurological influence. As a result of this influence, symptoms may be negatively expressed by the individual addicted to drugs, altering their daily