AP04 Substance Related Disorders

Chemicals that alter moods or behavior have been used for thousands of years by people from just about every culture and society. This course will overview the reasons people use psychoactive substances, the problems such substances can cause, how to help people who want to stop using substances, and how to prevent people from taking them in the first place. Psychoactive substances form a spectrum with everyday substances found at one end and illicit and potentially dangerous substances at the other. A variety of other substances lie between these two extremes.