What is Prescription Drug Abuse?
Physicians prescribe medications to patients that will benefit from their effects. Sometimes, however, these same medications can be abused or misused by the patients or others around them. In simple terms, prescriptions medications are abused when they take are taken by people they weren’t intended for, or when they are taken in ways that differ from the prescribed amounts and methods. There are several key indicators of abuse. These include someone constantly seeking more of the drug even when the symptoms they were used to treat are no longer present. Another sign is that someone is taking a prescription medication in doses higher than recommended in order to feel ‘high’ or feelings of euphoria. This behavior may continue despite impacts on their relationships.
Misuse includes using a prescription drug in ways that were not recommended by their healthcare professional. For instance, someone may take more of a drug thinking that they will experience the therapeutic effects more quickly with a higher dose. If a patient is prescribed a sleeping pill yet does not fall asleep after one pill, they may take an additional pill after an hour with the thinking that is the next appropriate step. In another scenario, they may offer pain medication to a friend who is experiencing pain. Both of these examples show signs of misuse of prescription medications, however, the patients objective was not to get ‘high’. These are signs of patients using medications in ways that their physicians did not intend. In essence, they are using the medications to treat themselves.
The primary difference between abuse and misuse is the individual’s motivation for using a medication. Regardless, both situations can be harmful for the individual. In some cases, it may be life threatening because physicians prescribe medications in ways intended to achieve a therapeutic effect but protect the life of the individual.