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Appendix A: Glossary
Abuse, substance - The use of illegal drugs or the inappropriate use of legal drugs. The repeated use of drugs to produce pleasure, to alleviate stress, or to alter or avoid reality (or all three).
Addiction - is a complex brain disease. It is characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. Drug seeking becomes compulsive, in large part as a result of the effects of prolonged drug use on brain functioning and on behavior. For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses possible even after long periods of abstinence.
Agonist - Any chemical that binds to a receptor and elicits a pharmacologic response.
Antagonist - A chemical that competes for receptor binding sites with agonists.
Antitussive - Cough suppressing.
Binge drinking - defined as consuming more than five drinks or more on one occasion on one day within the past 30 days.
Current Use (alcohol) - At least one drink in the past month (includes binge and heavy use). (4)
Dependence - the continued use and abuse of mood altering substances despite repeated adverse consequences to self and others. The illness is determined by genetic, physiological, biochemical and emotional vulnerability.
Drink - 12-ounce beer or wine cooler or 5 ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled liquor.
Endogenous - created within the body.
Exogenous - created outside the body.
Illicit - Illegal
Methadone - A synthetic narcotic used as a substitute for the narcotic analgesic drugs. Prevents withdrawal symptoms without providing euphoric effects and will almost completely block the effects of heroin (3).
Moderate drinking - defined as two drinks per day for males and one drink per day or females.
Myelin - Fatty tissue surrounding nerves.
Neurons - Nerve cell. Fundamental component of the nervous system.
Neurotransmission - message transfer from the axon of one nerve cell to the dendrite of another nerve cell.
Neurotransmitters - are a chemical messenger of neurologic information that is released from a nerve cell, which thereby transmits an impulse from a nerve cell to another nerve, muscle, organ, or other tissue. Next, neurotransmitters diffuse across the synaptic cleft to bind with specific receptors on the dendrite of the 'message receiving' neuron. NIDA
Psychoactive - alter mood, cognition and/or behavior. (3)
Relapse - Recurrence of alcohol or drug-dependent behavior in an individual who has previously achieved and maintained abstinence for a significant time beyond the period of detoxification (1).
Tolerance - Physiological adaptation to the effects of the drugs, so as to diminish effects with constant dosages or to maintain the intensity and duration of the effects through increased dosage. (1)
Treatment - Application of planned procedures to identify and change patterns of behavior that are maladaptive, destructive, or health injuring; or to restore appropriate levels of physical, psychological or social functioning. (1)
Withdrawal - Cessation of drug or alcohol use by an individual in who dependence is established. Withdrawal Syndrome is the onset of a predictable constellation of signs and symptoms involving altered activity of the central nervous system after the abrupt discontinuation of, or rapid decrease in dosage of a drug (1).
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