Posted on 4 November, 2019
After years of discussion in the American Psychiatric Association the expression Substance Abuse was removed from the official Diagnosis Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM 5; It was one of the best accomplishments that the group of psychiatrists working with addictions has obtained in recent years. Nobody likes abusive people , the word abuse puts the patient under a negative light at the very moment that a diagnosis is made which is the crucial point and marks the beginning of the treatment. It creates an asymmetric relation between doctor and patient, the doctor is high in the safe terrain of rightfulness and the patient is down, carrying the miserable status of being an abuser. To make the things worse the patient is not only the offender but the victim, blamed for reason of his illness. That chapter should be over but is not: most doctors and institutions still use the expression that drives the treatment in the direction of failure. It is time to rectify. Starting with DSM V the expression to be used is Substance Use Disorder.