What is the difference between a drug addiction and drug tolerance?
When a person takes a medication that isn’t prescribed for them or in higher doses than should be taken, they can become addicted to the drug. When someone is addicted to something, not just medications, but any substance, it’s a dependency that is more psychological than physical. Addiction could also be called an obsession or compulsion because it is something that you just have to have. If someone is addicted to a medication, they think about it all the time, they crave it, they want it, and they would do just about anything to get it. Physical tolerance to a drug is different. It means that if you’ve been taking a specific dose of a medication for a while, your body may become used to it and then it isn’t as effective as it once was or doesn’t last as long as it used to. While you may be tempted to take more because you want to relieve the pain, there’s no need to take it as there is with an addiction. How can we tell if the whole problem is physical or psychological? When doctors
