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Brit. Eng.: Drug dependence or dependency?

English translation: dependence/dependency

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:dependence/dependency
Selected answer:dependence/dependency
Entered by: Martin Perazzo

00:10 Apr 3, 2002
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Medical
English term or phrase: Brit. Eng.: Drug dependence or dependency?
I'd like to know the preferred use in GB for the above. I'd appreciate it if reasoned responses were given.
Martin Perazzo
Spain
Local time: 10:17
either can be used
Explanation:
both mean addiction in Standard British English; my Oxford Dictionary of Current English says the same.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-04-03 00:28:05 (GMT)
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Dept of Health (UK)

The great majority of users reported as being in treatment (87%) were attending community specialist services (taken to include community based drugs services, hospital out-patients and drug dependency unit out-patients).

http://tap.ccta.gov.uk/doh/intpress.nsf/page/2001-0617?


Office of National Statistics (UK)

*The vast majority of respondents (over 85 per cent) reported eithersmoking, hazardous drinking or drug dependence in the year beforecoming to prison.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:LWOhijMglKAC:www.statis...



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-04-03 00:53:19 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The Government\'s Ten-Year Strategy
for Tackling Drugs Misuse



Presented to Parliament by
the President of the Council
by Command of Her Majesty, April 1998



...the most significant health risks for this group beyond ***drug dependency*** are HIV, hepatitis B and C, and a wide range of psychiatric and psychological problems. Drug related deaths - proportionately rare but probably under-reported - are increasing. Injecting, however, appears to be continuing its fall, with only 2 in 5 addicts now admitting ever injecting

http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm39/39...

Selected response from:

AndrewBM
Ireland
Local time: 09:17
Grading comment
Dependence it is! Thanks...

What I meant to say is that I had a discussion with an English friend who told me that only "dependency" was acceptable use in UK in the case of drugs, and I wanted to use dependence (even more so when the term cropped up a couple of times in the bibliographic references).
Sorry I wasn't clearer in my previous comment.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +7either can be used
AndrewBM
4drug dependence
Kim Metzger
4Agreed, they are interchangeable
gangels (X)
4 -1dependence
mary bueno


  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
dependence


Explanation:
dependency is a country governed by another. It is also used in the sense of a state of needing sth regulary.

mary bueno

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  AndrewBM: sth regulary? explain yourself
12 mins
disagree  John Kinory (X): Dependency is used in Psychology; see Collins
9 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +7
either can be used


Explanation:
both mean addiction in Standard British English; my Oxford Dictionary of Current English says the same.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-04-03 00:28:05 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Dept of Health (UK)

The great majority of users reported as being in treatment (87%) were attending community specialist services (taken to include community based drugs services, hospital out-patients and drug dependency unit out-patients).

http://tap.ccta.gov.uk/doh/intpress.nsf/page/2001-0617?


Office of National Statistics (UK)

*The vast majority of respondents (over 85 per cent) reported eithersmoking, hazardous drinking or drug dependence in the year beforecoming to prison.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:LWOhijMglKAC:www.statis...



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-04-03 00:53:19 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The Government\'s Ten-Year Strategy
for Tackling Drugs Misuse



Presented to Parliament by
the President of the Council
by Command of Her Majesty, April 1998



...the most significant health risks for this group beyond ***drug dependency*** are HIV, hepatitis B and C, and a wide range of psychiatric and psychological problems. Drug related deaths - proportionately rare but probably under-reported - are increasing. Injecting, however, appears to be continuing its fall, with only 2 in 5 addicts now admitting ever injecting

http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm39/39...



AndrewBM
Ireland
Local time: 09:17
PRO pts in pair: 4
Grading comment
Dependence it is! Thanks...

What I meant to say is that I had a discussion with an English friend who told me that only "dependency" was acceptable use in UK in the case of drugs, and I wanted to use dependence (even more so when the term cropped up a couple of times in the bibliographic references).
Sorry I wasn't clearer in my previous comment.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Terry Burgess
15 mins
  -> Tks :)
agree  Fuad Yahya
1 hr
  -> Tks :))
agree  Barbara Østergaard
6 hrs
agree  Margaret Lagoyianni
8 hrs
agree  LAC
9 hrs
agree  John Kinory (X): See Collins
9 hrs
agree  Sheila Hardie
11 hrs
  -> Thanks everybody :))))))))))))
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
drug dependence


Explanation:
Basis:
1. The New Shorter Oxford gives both terms but defines it as the fact of depending on another person or thing only under dependence not under dependency.
2. The Imperial College of Science and Technology used dependence.

It includes contributions and especially compiled data-sets from leading institutions such as the Health Education Authority, Home Office, and the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence, (ISDD). The book notes, amongst other findings (see appendix) that:



    Reference: http://www.ic.ac.uk/templates/text_3.asp?P=1823
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 02:17
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 2249

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ligia Dias Costa
8 hrs
disagree  John Kinory (X): Acc. to Collins, either may be used. In the UK, both ARE used.
9 hrs
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1 day 15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Agreed, they are interchangeable


Explanation:
except in US usage "dependency" is a bit more emphatic and has the suggestion of addictiveness.

His dependence on the job / his dependency on drugs

gangels (X)
Local time: 02:17
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
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