10.2 What is the Meaning of Substance Use Disorder (SUD)?

man holding empty bottle of alcohol
Alcohol dependency is an example of a substance use disorder. 

The term substance use disorder (SUD) refers to:

  • Addiction, but is a less stigma-laden term.
  • A complex health problem that is tied to problematic use of a substance, resulting in harmful consequences for the individual.
  • A complex biological, psychological and social (biopsychosocial) disorder that has “multiple risk factors interacting at the individual and contextual levels” (Jemberie et al., 2020, p. 6), including: genetics/biology, brain function and barriers to accessing the SDoH (See Chapter on SDoH) (CMHA, n.d.a).
  • A condition that can range from mild and temporary to severe and chronic (McLellan, 2017).


Click the links below to learn more about SUDs:

Substance Use & Addiction

Understanding substance use: A Health Promotion Perspective

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Psychoactive Substances & Society (2nd Edition) Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline Lewis & Jillian Holland-Penney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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