chemical dependency

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Read Next

Drug syringe and cooked heroin on spoon

The U.S. Opioid Epidemic

Illustration showing electrical activity of the human brain

5 Common Misconceptions About Schizophrenia

People wearing surgical masks (also called face mask or medical masks or safety masks) walk through the city center of Milan, Italy on Feb. 23, 2020. Coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic

How Do Face Masks Control the Spread of Disease?

Scanning electron micrograph showing the spiral-shaped bacteria of the genus Leptospira. These organisms cause leptospirosis.

8 Zoonotic Diseases

Scan of human brain

What Are the Symptoms of a Stroke?

Discover

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

Computer mapping, woman at early 1990s computer

Timeline of the 1990s

Polar bear leaping among ice floes at Spitsbergen, Svalbard archipelago, Norway, the Arctic. Sea ice climate change mammal jump global warming

All 81 References in Fall Out Boy’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

The Battle of New Orleans, by E. Percy Moran, c. 1910. Andrew Jackson, War of 1812.

26 Decade-Defining Events in U.S. History

Candles Burning On Table In Church

What Is the Most Widely Practiced Religion in the World?

Figure 13: A Maxim machine gun, belt-fed and water-cooled, operated by German infantrymen, World War I.

7 Deadliest Weapons in History

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci

chemical dependency: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	dependence • drug dependency

Topics

addiction alcoholism drug abuse workaholism

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

drug use: The nature of drug addiction and dependence

Quiz

44 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Health and Medicine Quizzes