The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2003) reports that about 8.3 percent of the population of people in the United States who are 12 years of age or older use illicit drugs. In addition, an estimated 120 million Americans aged 12 years of age or older use alcohol, while approximately 71.5 million Americans (30.4 percent) use tobacco products. Regarding usage, the American Psychiatric Association (2000) refers to substance dependency and substance abuse as substance use disorders.
Further, Davidson, Neale and Kring (2003) report that in many cases, maladaptive patterns of behavior associated with substance dependency and/or substance abuse have underlying psychopathological issues, dysfunction or disorders. However, the question can be asked as to whether merely using drugs without the development of dependency or abuse patterns also suggestive of an underlying disorder.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature in order to determine whether drug use (as opposed to substance abuse or dependency) is an indicator of an underlying psychological or emotional disorder. To this end, the paper will examine the arguments supporting the claim that usage alone is indicative of an underlying disorder (the pros) as well as the arguments against the claim (the cons).
What, if any, are the reasons to believe that an individual who merely uses drugs may have a disorder? According to Bonomo (2003), substance use has been extensively studied in adolescent populations. Noting that abuse is common among adolescents, Bonomo states that it can sometimes be simple experimentation, but for a substantial number of individuals, it can be an indicator of emotional disturbance. Support for this can be found in the fact that many people who go on to become abusive of drugs or dependent upon them are eventually diagnosed with mental disorders as well (Durrant & Thakker, 2003).
For example, Heflinger (200...