Social Work: Tolerance and Substance Use Disorders

Vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts of tolerance, drug classifications, diagnostic language, and recovery approaches based on social work lecture notes.

Tolerance

Occurs when the body adapts to a drug after repeated usage, meaning a person needs more of the substance to achieve the same effect.

Cross tolerance

Occurs when tolerance to one drug causes tolerance to another drug in the same drug class, such as Alcohol and Benzodiazepines or Morphine and Heroin.

Substance use disorder (SUD)

A medical diagnosis describing problematic substance usage, categorized as mild, moderate, or severe.

Person first language

A shift in modern healthcare vocabulary used to reduce stigma by avoiding labels like drug abuse, addict, or alcoholic.

Alcohol

A psychoactive drug and central nervous system depressant that follows a cue-craving-use-reward cycle.

Depressants

A class of drugs that slow brain activity, causing relaxation and sleepiness; examples include Ativan, Xanax, Valium, and Barbiturates.

Opioids

Pain-relieving depressants that cause pain relief, euphoria, sleepiness, and respiratory depression; examples include morphine, Hydrocodone, fentonale, and Heroin.

Stimulants

A class of drugs that speed up the central nervous system, leading to increased energy, alertness, faster $HR$, increased $BP$, and loss of appetite.

Hallucinogens

A class of drugs that alter perception, distort reality, and change thinking; examples include LSD, psilocybin, and pcp.

Nicotine

A stimulant that releases dopamine and rapidly activates the brain's reward system while causing BP \text{ } \record \text{ } \textbf{\textasciicircum} .

Harm Reduction

A recovery approach focusing on safe usage through methods like Naloxone, syringe exchange, and education.

Medicated Assisted Treatment (MAT)

A recovery approach combining medicine (such as Methadone, Buprenorphine, and Naltrexone) with counseling like CBT.

CBT

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a form of counseling used in the recovery process.

Addiction

A brain disorder or disease influenced by genetics, brain chemistry, psychological factors (Trauma, mental ill, Stress), and social factors (Family, peers, Environment).

The 12 step programs

A traditional recovery approach for managing substance use disorders.