Addiction psychiatry
Encyclopedia
Addiction psychiatry is a subspecialty within psychiatry
that focuses on the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of people who are suffering from one or more disorders related to addiction
. This may include disorders involving legal and illegal drugs, gambling, sex, food, and other impulse control disorder
s.
In the United States, addiction psychiatrists are physicians who, after completing medical school and specialty training in psychiatry, undergo further education (subspecialize) in addictions.
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
that focuses on the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of people who are suffering from one or more disorders related to addiction
Addiction
Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity...
. This may include disorders involving legal and illegal drugs, gambling, sex, food, and other impulse control disorder
Impulse control disorder
Impulse control disorder is a set of psychiatric disorders including intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, pathological gambling, pyromania , and three body-focused repetitive or compulsive behaviors of trichotillomania , onychophagia and dermatillomania...
s.
In the United States, addiction psychiatrists are physicians who, after completing medical school and specialty training in psychiatry, undergo further education (subspecialize) in addictions.