Self-medication

Self-medication is the use of drugs, sometimes illicit, to treat a perceived or real malady, often of a psychological nature.

Over-the-counter drugs are a form of self medication. The buyer diagnoses their own illness and buys a specific drug to treat it. The World Self-Medication Industry (WSMI) define self-medication as the treatment of common health problems with medicines especially designed and labeled for use without medical supervision and approved as safe and effective for such use.

A person may also self-medicate by taking more or less than the recommended dose of a drug.

Some mental illness sufferers attempt to correct their illnesses by use of tobacco, cannabis, or other mind-altering drugs. While this may provide immediate relief of some symptoms such as anxiety, the practice is now known to strongly exacerbate mental illnesses in the long run (as well as being a strong risk factor for mental illness), and often leads to addiction/dependence, and of course the side effects of long-term use of the drug. The theory that drug dependence or addiction results from self-medication for the distress caused by a pre-exiating condition was introduced in 1974 by David F. Duncan and Edward J. Khantzian in independent publications. This theory has come to be known as the self-medication hypothesis. Sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, are prone to self-medication.

Individuals also, in some cases, attempt self-medication for physical illnesses. For example, it is believed that Kurt Cobain's use of heroin partially stemmed from a painful stomach condition.

The current phenomenon in many Western societies of the widespread usage of vitamins, herbs, and other over-the-counter "supplements"--usually without the advice, supervision, or even knowledge of any licensed health professional--is another possible example of self-medication. Some observers of health behavior and medical affairs have written that this trend may arise from the desire of laymen to feel more in control of their own health--rather than relying on the more traditional medical establishment, whose motives are sometimes seen as suspect. Too, the extraordinary increases in the cost of traditional health care in recent decades--doctors, hospitals, prescriptions, etc.--in many societies has left individuals desperate to try to find a cheaper alternative to treat or prevent their own afflictions.