What is SUD? Defining Substance Use Disorder
Terms can be tricky to define. Different camps have attempted to answer “What is SUD?”.
One might also ask:
- What are the symptoms of SUD?
- Is it a disease, like something you can catch?
- Is it incurable?
- Can medicine fix it?
The APA textbooks used by psychologists describe SUD as a complex cluster of symptoms. Paralleling the disease-model, in addiction treatment, terms are borrowed like “symptoms” and “disorders”. But unlike typical diseases, medicine cannot provide a cure. There are physical, social and spiritual components that must be included in the healing process because excessive and even daily substance use can lead to addiction and dependence.
AMA texts used by the medical doctors of today use SUD, or substance use disorder, as a nonjudgmental term, officially mandating the replacement of other words like addiction, or addict or alcoholic- terms which are now declared to be racially or socially inappropriate.
The CDC defines SUD as a treatable chronic disease. Their 2023 survey reported 1 in 6 Americans experienced “an SUD” in that year, recommending medication as treatment to help with cravings and withdrawal. The CDC primarily subscribes to the “disease model” of addiction treatment.1-4
However, in the real world of simple observation, a drug used long enough can produce withdrawal symptoms when it is stopped. And whether called “addiction,” or “dependence,” or “a cluster of symptoms,” or a label such as SUD, such ongoing conditions can have disastrous consequences unless the means to safely stop using the drug are provided.
Our concentrated efforts at ATMC focus not on finding the correct label, or the correct medication to treat that label, but on discovering and relieving the things that are driving unchecked and destructive drug use. Our approach is to focus on holistic treatments. The label “SUD” becomes irrelevant in a holistic treatment context. What IS important, is understanding the causes of substance use disorder, addiction, and dependence and that can remove much confusion from the subject. And, these understandings can open the door to real healing.
Here are additional insights for you to review for a deeper dive into new research on holistic treatment for Substance Use Disorder, including addressing the mechanics of relapse.
Big Players in the SUD Industry
There is no doubt that the some factions within the APA, the AMA, the FDA, and the drug industry appear to have formed something of a partnership, under the umbrella of SUD treatment.5 This relationship has fostered the approval of various medications within the disease model of addiction or SUD treatment.
In the lab, chemists can produce synthetic versions of opiates, or even a whole new chemical compound such as benzodiazepines that mimic, enhance, or inhibit hormonal & neurochemical actions and reactions in the human body. In this paradigm, any disorder including substance abuse disorder becomes a potential candidate for a chemical-based solution.
While the temporary use of certain drugs most certainly can assist in drug withdrawal, they also have addictive properties, and can develop undesirable side effects, especially if used long term. This greatly limits their practical usefulness.
In more mainstream rehab facilities, various prescription drugs have overshadowed drug-free treatment methods, not only to assist withdrawal, which is often necessary, but for long term treatment of substance use disorder.
Some of the drugs used as medicine to treat substance use disorders include:
- Methadone, Suboxone, Buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction or opioid use disorder
- Antabuse, baclofen, naltrexone, for alcohol addiction 20
- Stimulants such as modafinil, bupropion, for cocaine & methamphetamine addiction 6
- Bupropion (FDA approved use) for nicotine addiction 6
- Other antidepressant meds (off-label) for nicotine addiction such as nortriptyline7
- SSRIs for SUD 19
In contrast to this approach, ATMC uses drug-free alternatives wherever possible to aid and assist in SUD recovery. You can review these in our services overview section. When a person’s body becomes “un-poisoned” through authentic holistic detox methods, proper nutrition, and other means, the reasons one took drugs in the first place usually greatly lessen, or disappear altogether.
Basics in Treating Substance Use Disorder
In planning SUD treatment at ATMC, different classes of drugs require different approaches. Recovery after benzodiazepines and antipsychotics are some of the most frequently treated issues at ATMC.16.21 For specific drug classes, and detailed treatment protocols used at ATMC, you can review the following summaries:
Recreational Drugs and SUD
Recreational drugs are frequently used to combat one of the most under-studied triggers of drug and alcohol use: BOREDOM. Habitual use to combat symptoms like boredom, depression, anxiety, and others, can then evolve into devastating problems like SUD.
Holistic-based treatments provide a pathway back to creating inner joy and wellness that can supersede the need for chronic symptom relief or artificial stimuli.22
Tyler’s success story demonstrates his personal transformation at ATMC.
Problematic Symptoms Can Lead to Substance Use Disorder
SUD often develops from an ongoing need to get rid of unwanted symptoms. A person suffering from insomnia may seek medication to get a decent nights sleep. Commonly the medication stops working and sleeplessness returns. A person experiencing debilitating depression or anxiety may be prescribed medications that work only temporarily, and in many cases, introduce new troubling symptoms, followed by multiple prescriptions in a never-ending cycle.
Medication-assisted interventions (see more details below)
By investigating possible causes and contributors to these and other symptoms, we can begin to unravel the puzzle, and provide solutions that don’t rely on prescription medication for relief, and don’t further compromise a person’s health and well-being.
