Substance and Opioid Use Disorder Basics

This session provided a basic overview of substance use as a complex but treatable disease that affects brain function. The role of biology and genetic factors can contribute 50% to a person’s susceptibility to becoming addicted. Yet DNA alone isn’t destiny. Environmental factors such as how the person was raised, whether the person experienced or witnessed sexual or physical abuse, and whether the person grew up in poverty can also influence a person’s vulnerability to addiction. This session will cover these factors as well review the continuum of stages; common drugs of abuse including opioids; a day in the life of a person misusing substances, especially opioids; and the way parental substance use impacts children in the home.

The session’s learning objectives included:

1. Understand the roles genetics, the environment, and the brain play in developing and contributing to substance use and associated problems.
2. Understand the continuum (stages) of substance use in the development of a substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder.
3. Identify the most common drugs of abuse, including different types of opioids.
4. Review a day in the life of a person misusing substances, especially opioids, and how parental substance use impacts children in the home.