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Nic Sheff And His Substance Abuse Di

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Nic Sheff and his Substance Abuse Disorder Nic Sheff struggled with an addiction to methylphenidates and other drugs that could potentially be addictive. After reading the first 130 pages of his memoir, I believe that Nic would be diagnosed with severe Substance Use Disorder. He suffers from a great number of symptoms that the DSM-5 recognizes as criteria for Substance Abuse. The DSM has 11 diagnostic criteria that a person has to meet in order for their drug use to be a disorder. Because Nic meets more than 6 of these criteria, his disorder is considered severe. The specific criteria that Nic met were: The stimulant is being taken in large amounts and/or over a long period of time, a desire and unsuccessful efforts to control drug abuse, …show more content…

Thus, based on the DSM-5’s diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder, Nic Sheff would be diagnosed with severe substance use disorder. Nic consistently used large amounts of heroin and meth, sometimes to the point where he would forget periods of time. For example, when Nic’s tolerance was low after a break from crystal meth, he injected the drug and, “...plunged immediately into a period of about a week where, to this day, [he had] no idea what [he] did.” (19). This fits the first criteria of the DSM-5’s diagnostic criteria for Substance Abuse Disorder, “the stimulant is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was …show more content…

A few times throughout the first half of the book, Nic explains how he feels isolated and lonely due to his drug use. One representation of this characteristic is seen when Nic and Gack are walking through a busy town and enter a record store. When Nic sees the amount of new albums released, he feels, “...so isolated–insulated in this world of scrounging to get money so [he] can buy drugs, to get high, then start all over again” (116). In this case, the recreational activity for Nic would be listening to music. Since he is so caught up in the constant cycle of finding money for drugs and using, he has lost sight of activities important to him. Seeing the number of new music albums proved to him just how much he has lost due to his consistent drug use, and made him feel isolated. Once again, it is the drug use that has caused Nic to decrease his engagement in recreational activities important to

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