The psychoactive substance use history includes past and present use of both licit and illicit psychoactive substances, including but not limited to alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, marijuana, cocaine, opiates, sedative-hypnotic agents, stimulants, solvents, MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), androgenic steroids, and hallucinogens (47). Relevant information includes the quantity and frequency of use and route of administration; the pattern of use (e.g., episodic versus continual, solitary versus social); functional, interpersonal, or legal consequences of use; tolerance and withdrawal phenomena; any temporal association between substance use and other present psychiatric illnesses; and any self-perceived benefits of use. It is also important to inquire about prior treatments for substance use disorders as well as about periods of abstinence, including their duration, recentness, and factors that aided in sobriety or contributed to relapse. Obtaining an accurate substance use history often involves a gradual, nonconfrontational approach to inquiry that involves asking multiple questions to seek the same information in different ways and using slang terms for drugs, patterns of use, and drug effects. Patients are particularly likely to underestimate their level of substance abuse and their related functional impairments; corroboration by other family members is useful when possible. It is also helpful to inquire about patterns of substance use by others within the family or living constellation. For more extensive discussion of the assessment of substance use, abuse, and dependence, the reader is referred to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Assessment and Treatment of Patients With Coexisting Mental Illness and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (48) and APA's Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients With Substance Use Disorders (49).