Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

Given the incredible scope of substance use disorders, this chapter will primarily focus on alcohol and opioid use disorders, while also discussing substance use broadly. Furthermore, this chapter does not provide detailed guidelines for managing patients with a substance use disorder. Instead, this review aims to provide the reader with conceptual background of the biology of addiction as well as a general framework for its diagnosis and management. While this chapter primarily focuses on physicians in the role of caregiver, it is important to note that physicians also struggle with SUDs, at a rate near that of the general population.25 This review contains 3 tables and 25 references.