Addiction Medicine In the USA in the late 1980s, this became the preferred term for the branch of medicine dealing with alcohol- and drug-related conditions. The term for a practitioner of addiction medicine is “addictionist”
Addiction Medicine is concerned with the prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery of persons with the disease of addiction, of those with substance-related health conditions, and of people who show unhealthy use of substances including nicotine, alcohol, prescription medications and other licit and illicit drugs. Physicians in this subspecialty also help family members whose health and functioning are affected by a loved one’s substance use or addiction.
