Chapter 7.Substance Use Disorders
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Excerpt
Substance-related and addictive disorders in the military are relatively common. As in the civilian world, substance use problems can have significant negative impact on service members’ and veterans’ lives, careers, and mission as a whole. These disorders likely impact their own health and occupational outcomes as well as important social, family, and intimate relationships. Substance use disorders complicate the treatment of comorbid physical conditions and psychiatric disorders. The military has special prohibitions against illicit drug use—service members can lose their jobs. In addition, exposure to combat is associated with higher rates of substance use and misuse, and combat veterans report higher rates of substance abuse and dependence compared with civilian populations (Blume et al. 2010; Hoge et al. 2005, 2008). Clinicians must assess substance use as a potential postdeployment health outcome (Larson et al. 2012; Seal et al. 2007). In this chapter we review the epidemiology of and the regulations regarding service members and veterans with substance use disorder and review evaluation and treatment options. For updated DSM-5-related substance use categories (American Psychiatric Association [APA] 2013), see Table 3-.
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