Self-medication
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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. 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 stemmed partially 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 stem from a desire of laypersons 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 many individuals desperate to try and find a cheaper alternative to treat or prevent their own afflictions.
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