Drug Detox Treatment: Substance Abuse Withdrawal & Delirium

Drug detox treatment typically occurs after substance abuse has gone on for a considerable amount of time and has significantly impaired ones ability to function adequately in everyday life. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM IV, is a tool physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and other trained mental health professionals use to make a diagnosis of Substance Intoxication Delirium. Mental health professionals will compare the existing symptoms to the DSM IV criteria required for a diagnosis of Substance Intoxication Delirium.

To receive a diagnosis of substance abuse called - Substance Intoxication Delirium, the DSM IV indicates someone must exhibit these behaviors: 1) have a disturbance of consciousness, 2) show a change in cognitive functioning, 3) the disturbance must have happened quickly - over a few hours or days, and 4) there is evidence that the symptoms occurred while the individual was intoxicated or when on a medication known to be associated with delirium was being used.

1. How substance abuse affects consciousness
If you have ever been intoxicated,or if you may have a substance abuse problem yourself, you know there is a lessening or change in your ability to think clearly, to be aware of things happening around you, to focus and to sustain focus, and to shift your attention. Someone who exhibits a disturbance of consciousness is not aware of their surroundings, the people in it, or what is going on around them. If these behaviors occur routinely with substance abuse activities, they are considered to be signs of substance abuse intoxication and a drug detox program may be required.

2. How substance abuse affects cognition

The word cognition means the mental processes used to learn new information and to comprehend this information including: the ability to think, to know, to remember, to judge and to solve problems. When determining whether someone meets the criteria for a substance abuse diagnosis, a mental health professional will have to deduce whether there has been changes in a persons cognitive abilities that can not be attributed to a pre-existing condition, or an evolving dementia.

3. The time-frame for substance abuse delirium

Substance abuse intoxication delirium can come on very quickly, but typically it will be evident within a few hours or days and has a tendency to fluctuate over the course of a day. Delirium or delirium tremens has many colloquial names such as the "DTs", "the shakes", "the heebie geebies", etc. They are a direct result of substance abuse or detox treatment. If someone you know has DTs, they need to see a physician who can determine whether they have a substance abuse problem and are in need of detox treatment or whether the symptoms have a different etiology.

How a diagnosis of substance abuse intoxication delirium is made

A mental health professional will gather information about the individual - take a history -by either talking to someone who has known the individual for quite some time, and/or get information from medical or detox treatment records, and they will use data from a physical examination or lab findings or both. They will be trying to make a determination that the symptoms described in 1 & 2 above occurred during a substance abuse intoxication episode or whether some medication they use is the cause of the delirium.

If you know someone who exhibits the symptoms of substance abuse intoxication deliriums, you need to help them find a mental health professional who can make a diagnosis and refer them to a credible drug detox program. The diagnosis of Substance Intoxication Delirium is a serious disorder and one that needs to made by a qualified mental health professional.