Substance Use & Addiction: Signs, Risks and Support Options
Alcohol or drug use affects people in different ways. For some it begins to cause problems with health, relationships or everyday functioning; some develop a substance use disorder; many people who use a substance do neither.
This page explains what substance use disorders are and how they differ from substance use, what dependence, tolerance and withdrawal mean, what signs may be worth professional assessment, what treatment can involve, and — importantly — when a situation is a medical emergency rather than something to book an appointment about. It contains no detox plan, no tapering schedule and nothing that should be followed as an instruction.
What Is a Substance Use Disorder?
Substance use disorders are health conditions in which a pattern of alcohol or drug use is associated with significant impairment, distress, or harm to physical health, mental health or daily life. They are recognised diagnoses, assessed by qualified professionals, and they are not a description of someone's character.
Classification systems describe several related but distinct ideas — harmful patterns of use, dependence, and the disorders arising from particular substances. What they have in common is that the assessment looks at a pattern over time and its consequences, not at a single occasion of use.
This page describes those concepts to help you recognise when something may be worth professional attention. It does not reproduce diagnostic criteria as a checklist, and no number of items here establishes anything. Whether a pattern of use meets the threshold for a disorder is a clinical judgement.
A note on language
This page does not describe anyone as an addict, an alcoholic, a substance abuser or a junkie, and does not use "clean" or "dirty" about a person or a test result. Those words attach the problem to the person rather than to the condition, and there is good reason to think that makes people less likely to seek help and less likely to be helped well when they do. The wording here is deliberately person-first: someone experiencing problems related to alcohol or drug use, someone with a substance use disorder.
Does Using Alcohol or Drugs Mean Someone Has an Addiction?
No. Substance use exists on a spectrum, and most of it is not a disorder. The scale of that gap is worth stating precisely: the World Health Organization reports that around 296 million people aged 15–64 worldwide used a drug at least once in 2021, and that about 39.5 million people were living with drug use disorders in the same year. Both figures are global estimates rather than Indian ones, and they describe populations rather than any individual — but the distance between them is the point.
What assessment considers is the pattern and its effects: how much and how often, whether control over use has become difficult, what consequences have followed, whether dependence or withdrawal are present, the effect on health and on daily functioning, and the circumstances around it. One heavy night, or a period of using more than usual, is not a diagnosis.
That does not make substance use risk-free
The opposite conclusion is also wrong. Alcohol and other psychoactive substances carry health risks that do not depend on a disorder being present. The WHO describes ethanol as a psychoactive and toxic substance with dependence-producing properties, states that alcohol consumption plays a causal role in more than 200 diseases, injuries and other health conditions, and says plainly that alcohol consumption even at low levels can bring health risks — while noting that most alcohol-related harm comes from heavy episodic or heavy continuous drinking.
So both simplifications fail. "It is only a problem if you are addicted" is not true, and neither is "any use is addiction". Where a particular pattern sits is something worth discussing with a professional rather than deciding from a page.
Dependence, Tolerance and Withdrawal
These three words are often used interchangeably in ordinary conversation and mean different things clinically. The distinctions matter, particularly the last one, because withdrawal is where the medical risk sits.
Dependence
The WHO describes dependence as a disorder of regulation of substance use arising from repeated or continuous use, whose characteristic feature is a strong internal drive to use — showing up as impaired ability to control use, increasing priority given to use over other activities, and persistence of use despite harm or negative consequences. Physiological features may also be present.
Tolerance
Broadly, a changed relationship between an amount taken and the effect it produces after repeated exposure. It is one of the physiological features that may accompany dependence. It is described here only so the word is understood — this page gives no figures and nothing about amounts.
Withdrawal
Symptoms that can follow stopping or reducing use where dependence has developed. The WHO also describes repeated use to prevent or relieve withdrawal as one of the physiological features of dependence. What withdrawal involves, how long it lasts and how risky it is differ substantially between substances and between people.
Is dependence the same as addiction?
Not exactly, and the words are used differently in different places. Physical dependence — tolerance and withdrawal — can develop in contexts where nobody would describe the person as having an addiction, including with some medicines taken exactly as prescribed. The broader clinical concept described above is about the regulation of use: the drive to use, the loss of control, the priority it takes, the persistence despite harm. Physiological features may accompany that, but they are not the whole of it and their presence alone does not establish it.
If you think you may be physically dependent, or you have experienced withdrawal symptoms before when cutting down or stopping, that is a reason to get medical advice about how to proceed — not a reason to work out a plan from a website. There is more on this below.
What Signs May Suggest Substance Use Is Becoming a Problem?
These are indications that professional assessment may be worth having. They are not a test, there is no number of them that means anything, and each can have other explanations.
Patterns of use
Finding it difficult to control how much or how often
Strong urges or cravings
Use taking increasing priority over other things that matter
Continuing despite consequences that have already happened
Unsuccessful attempts to cut down or stop
Effects on life
Difficulties at work, in study, or with money
Strain in relationships, or withdrawing from people
Use in situations where it creates risk
Responsibilities becoming harder to meet
Time increasingly organised around using or recovering from use
Health
Physical health problems connected to use
Changes in mood, sleep or thinking
Needing to use to feel normal, or to avoid feeling unwell
Symptoms when cutting down or stopping
Recognising something here does not mean you have a substance use disorder, and recognising nothing does not mean you do not. What these are useful for is deciding whether to have a conversation with someone qualified — which is a much lower bar than being certain, and a better use of the information than self-diagnosis.
Alcohol and Other Drugs
Different substances carry different risks — in intoxication, in dependence, in withdrawal, in overdose and in longer-term physical and mental health. Assessment and treatment differ accordingly. This page describes them at the level of risk rather than as a guide to any of them.
Alcohol
Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive substance and among the most consequential. The WHO describes ethanol as psychoactive, toxic and dependence-producing, reports that alcohol plays a causal role in more than 200 diseases, injuries and other health conditions, and links it to liver disease, cardiovascular disease and several cancers, as well as to depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorders. It is also an established carcinogen.
The WHO estimated that around 400 million people aged 15 and over were living with alcohol use disorders, of whom around 209 million were living with alcohol dependence. Those two figures are not the same number for a reason: alcohol use disorder and alcohol dependence are related but distinct.
Alcohol is also the substance where stopping carries particular medical risk. Where significant dependence has developed, abruptly stopping can produce severe withdrawal, and that is a situation for medical assessment rather than willpower. This page gives no drinking targets, no reduction schedules and no quantities in either direction.
Other drugs
The category covers substances whose effects, risks and treatment differ enormously — opioids, stimulants, cannabis, sedatives and others. What they share is that dependence can develop with repeated use and that some carry serious acute risk. The WHO notes that opioids in particular can cause difficulties with breathing and that opioid overdose can lead to death.
This page deliberately does not catalogue individual drugs, their street names, their potency, how they are taken or how they combine. That information is not needed to recognise a problem or to seek help, and it is the kind of detail that reads differently depending on who is reading it. What is worth knowing is that assessment and treatment are substance-specific, which is one reason general counselling is not a universal answer.
Prescribed medicines
Concerns about a prescribed medicine — using more than intended, difficulty stopping, or worry about dependence — are worth raising with the prescriber or another medical professional. Some medicines produce physical dependence when taken exactly as directed, which is not the same as misuse.
What matters here is the same principle as everywhere else on this page: do not stop or change a prescribed medicine abruptly on the strength of something you read. Speak to whoever prescribed it, or to another doctor if that is easier.
Is It Safe to Stop Suddenly?
Not always, and this is the single most important practical thing on the page. The instinct after deciding to change is often to stop everything immediately, and for some patterns of physical dependence that carries real medical risk — most notably with alcohol, where severe withdrawal can be dangerous.
If you think you may be physically dependent, or you have had withdrawal symptoms before when cutting down or stopping, get medical advice about how to do it rather than working it out alone. A doctor can assess whether withdrawal needs to be medically supported and, if so, how.
What this page will not do is give you the plan. There is no tapering schedule here, no timings, no amounts, no substitution advice and no medication guidance, for any substance — not because the information does not exist but because applying it safely depends on an assessment of you that a web page cannot perform. Deciding to change is yours. Working out how to do it safely is something to do with a professional.
When Substance Use Becomes a Medical Emergency
Most people reading this page are not in an emergency. This section is here because this subject produces situations that are, and because those need a different response from a scheduled appointment.
Suspected overdose or severe intoxication
Someone who is unconscious or cannot be woken, whose breathing is slow, shallow, noisy or stopping, who has had a seizure, who is severely confused, who has collapsed, or whose lips or skin look blue or grey needs emergency medical help immediately. Call your local emergency services or get them to the nearest hospital. Stay with them.
Do not wait to see whether it passes, and do not try to manage it yourself. Walking someone around, coffee, a cold shower, making them vomit or letting them sleep it off are not treatments — they are delays, and in an overdose the delay is the danger. Emergency medical services have treatments available that nobody else does.
Severe withdrawal
Withdrawal can also become a medical emergency. Seizures, severe confusion, hallucinations, severe agitation, a racing or irregular heartbeat, repeated vomiting or an inability to keep fluids down, or rapid physical deterioration after stopping or cutting down all need urgent medical assessment. This is particularly relevant with alcohol, where severe withdrawal can be dangerous.
Safety and mental health
If you are having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, or someone is in immediate danger, go to the nearest hospital or emergency room, where you can see a psychiatrist, counsellor or therapist in person. Do not wait for a scheduled session. Involving a family member or friend who can be with you helps.
Booking a session through LifeHetu is a scheduled conversation with a practitioner at a future time. It is not an emergency service, it is not medical care, and it is not the route for anything in this section.
What Can Contribute to Substance Use Problems?
Several things interact, and no single one explains it. The WHO frames substance use disorders, like other mental health conditions, as arising from a combination of biological, psychological and social factors.
Biological and genetic factors
Vulnerability differs between people, and part of that difference is inherited. It shifts likelihood; it does not determine an outcome.
Mental health
Existing mental health difficulties are associated with higher likelihood, and substance use can also worsen them. Which came first is frequently not obvious even to the person living it.
Life experiences
Difficult or traumatic experiences are associated with increased likelihood for some people. That association is real and it is not universal — many people with such histories never develop a substance use disorder, and many people who do have no such history.
Environment and availability
Exposure, availability, and what is normal in the people and places around someone all matter. So does age at first use.
Stress and circumstances
Sustained pressure, isolation, insecure work or housing, and periods of upheaval can all be part of the picture.
The substance itself
Substances differ in how readily dependence develops with repeated use. That is a property of the substance, not a statement about the person using it.
What none of this is, is a moral account. Substance use disorders are health conditions, not evidence of weak will, bad character or selfishness, and framing them that way is both wrong and one of the reasons people wait years before asking for help. Equally, this page does not remove anyone's agency: decisions about safety — driving, caring for others, what happens next — remain real and remain theirs. Both of those things are true at once.
Can Substance Use Occur Alongside Other Mental Health Conditions?
Frequently. Depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD and other conditions commonly occur alongside substance use disorders, in both directions and often tangled together.
What this page will not do is tell you which came first, or whether your use is "self-medication". People do sometimes use substances in an attempt to manage distress, and the idea has enough truth in it to be widely repeated — but it is not a universal explanation, it does not apply to everyone, and treating a substance as an effective treatment for a mental health condition is not something this page endorses. Untangling the relationship in an individual is a clinical task, and it matters because it affects what treatment is appropriate.
How Are Substance Use Problems Professionally Assessed?
Assessment is a conversation with an appropriately qualified professional, and it covers both mind and body. Depending on the situation it may consider which substances are involved, the pattern and how long it has gone on, physical health, mental health, current medicines, any history of withdrawal, any history of overdose, the effect on daily functioning, social circumstances, and safety.
That last group is why substance use assessment often involves medical input as well as psychological. Withdrawal history and overdose history are not psychological questions, and the answers change what is safe to do next.
You do not have to disclose anything here
Browsing practitioners or booking a session through LifeHetu does not require you to say which substances are involved, how much, how often, or anything about your history. There is no intake questionnaire on this page and no substance details are collected as part of booking. What you share, and with whom, is between you and the professional you speak to. Practitioners work under their own professional and ethical obligations, which include recognised limits — situations involving risk of serious harm being the usual example — and any handling of your information by LifeHetu is governed by its published privacy policy.
Not every practitioner assesses substance use disorders, and general counselling is not the same as a specialist addiction assessment. Where dependence, withdrawal risk or significant physical health concerns may be involved, medical input is part of what is needed — and that is worth establishing before booking rather than after.
What Can Treatment and Support Involve?
What is appropriate depends on the substance, how severe things are, whether physical dependence is present, physical and mental health, social circumstances, the person's own goals and the risks involved. Effective treatments exist for substance use disorders, and there is no single one that fits everyone.
Psychological and psychosocial support
Psychosocial interventions are a core part of treatment for many people. Depending on the situation and the professional, these can include motivational approaches, cognitive-behavioural approaches, work on maintaining changes over time, and interventions involving family or wider social support.
These are professional interventions rather than techniques to apply to yourself or to someone else, and this page does not turn any of them into a script. Motivational approaches in particular are sometimes described online as something a family member should perform on a reluctant relative; they are a clinical method, and that is not what they are for. What any individual practitioner offers comes from their own profile, not from this page.
Medication and medical care
Medication is an established part of treatment for some substance use disorders and, for some people, a significant one — the WHO notes that effective treatment interventions for opioid dependence exist and can decrease the risk of overdose. Medical care may also be needed for physical health problems connected to use.
That is as far as this page goes. No medicines are named, no doses, no induction or substitution protocols, no schedules, and nothing about how to obtain anything. Those decisions belong to appropriately qualified medical professionals who have assessed the individual. LifeHetu does not prescribe.
Withdrawal management and detoxification
Detoxification, or withdrawal management, means safely getting through acute withdrawal with whatever medical support that requires. Whether it is needed, where it should happen and what it involves depend entirely on the substance, the degree of dependence and the person's physical health.
Two things about it are worth being clear on. It is not by itself treatment for a substance use disorder — it addresses the acute phase, and what follows it is where most of the work is. And it is not something to attempt alone from instructions found online. This page contains no withdrawal protocol, no tapering schedule, no timings and no substitution guidance, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight.
Specialist and coordinated care
Addiction medicine is a distinct specialism. NIMHANS runs a dedicated Centre for Addiction Medicine, and specialist services of that kind bring together psychiatric assessment, psychological intervention, social work support, medication, withdrawal management and inpatient or outpatient care depending on what an individual needs.
Some people need that level of coordinated care; others do not. The relevant point for this page is that it exists as something distinct from general counselling, and that where it is needed, counselling alone is not a substitute for it.
One figure worth knowing, because it is often read as a personal failing rather than a system one: the WHO reports that fewer than one in ten people who need treatment for opioid dependence receive it, and that among people with alcohol use disorders the proportion in contact with treatment services ranges from under 1% to no more than 14% across countries where data exist. Difficulty getting help is common and it is not evidence that help does not work.
Outcomes vary between people and this page promises none. Treatment can and does help, there is no fixed timeline, and no web page can tell anyone what their own course will look like.
If Substance Use Returns After a Period of Change
A return to use after a period of stopping or cutting down is common, and it is best understood as information rather than as failure. It does not mean treatment did not work, it does not undo what changed before it, and it is not evidence about someone's character or commitment.
What it usually does mean is that the plan needs revisiting — with whoever is involved in that person's care, and sooner rather than later. Risk can be higher after a period of not using, because tolerance changes, which is a practical reason to get back in contact with professional support quickly rather than waiting until things feel more manageable.
Nor is it inevitable. Plenty of people stop or change their use and that holds. The reason this section exists is that the alternative framing — a single lapse as proof that the whole attempt failed — keeps people away from help precisely when contact matters most.
How Can You Support Someone You Are Concerned About?
This is difficult, and much of the advice in circulation is worse than doing nothing. What follows is deliberately modest.
Speak without judgement
Describe what you have noticed and why you are worried, in terms of them rather than of what they are doing wrong. Shame is not a motivator here; it is one of the main reasons people conceal use.
Pick the moment
Not while they are intoxicated, and not in front of an audience. A quiet, ordinary conversation achieves more than a confrontation.
Encourage professional assessment
Offering to help find someone, or to go with them, is usually more useful than any argument you can make.
Take the medical risks seriously
Know the emergency signs above. If you are worried they may be physically dependent, encourage medical advice before they stop rather than after something goes wrong.
Do not try to run a detox
Do not suddenly remove a substance from someone who may be dependent, confine them, restrain them, give them medication that is not theirs, or attempt withdrawal management yourself. These can be dangerous, and good intentions do not make them safe.
Look after yourself too
You are allowed limits on what you can absorb, and keeping your own footing is not abandoning them. Support for people close to someone with a substance use problem exists in its own right.
Two pieces of very common advice worth setting aside. "They have to hit rock bottom" is not a treatment principle — it is a phrase, and waiting for things to get worse is not a plan, because sometimes what is at the bottom is an overdose. And cutting someone off until they stop is a decision you may sometimes need to make for your own sake, but it is not a technique for producing change and it should not be presented as one. Complicated situations rarely have clean answers, and anyone offering you one on this subject is oversimplifying.
If You Are Concerned About a Young Person
Substance use in adolescence needs assessment and support designed for that age group, taking development, family context and education into account. It is specialist work and this general page does not attempt it.
The practitioners listed further down offer Adult Counselling, which is not the right pathway for a child or teenager. Child & Adolescent Counselling is where to start, and the child psychologist category lists practitioners who work with younger clients. Where there is any concern about intoxication, overdose or withdrawal, that is a medical matter and should not wait.
What LifeHetu Does, and What It Does Not
LifeHetu is a technology platform. It lists independent practitioners, publishes their professional profiles, and enables online session booking and payment. The practitioners listed are not employed by LifeHetu, and the professional relationship in a session is between you and the practitioner.
LifeHetu does not assess or diagnose substance use disorders, provide detoxification, supervise withdrawal, prescribe or manage medication, treat overdose, provide rehabilitation or inpatient care, run a de-addiction centre, provide addiction medicine, create treatment or relapse-prevention plans, or clinically match anyone to addiction treatment. It does not certify anyone as an addiction specialist.
Booking an Adult Counselling session is booking counselling. Counselling can be one component of support for some people. It is not detoxification, not withdrawal management, not medical care, not emergency care and not specialist addiction treatment, and where those are what someone needs, it is not a substitute for them.
Where to Find Professional Support
LifeHetu lists independent practitioners and lets you book an online session with one of them. It does not maintain a list of addiction specialists — practitioner records carry the services someone offers, not verified clinical specialisms — and for a condition that may need medical assessment, withdrawal management or specialist addiction care, a general counselling listing is a starting point rather than a treatment pathway.
How Online Booking Through LifeHetu Works
Explore practitioners
Browse who is listed, with search and filters. Nothing is behind a sign-up, and nothing asks about your use.
Read the profile
Qualifications, years in practice, languages, the services they offer and how they describe their own work are on each profile.
Choose the service
Pick the service you want from the ones that practitioner offers. The current fee is shown for it.
Pick a time
Availability comes live from the practitioner’s own calendar at the moment you book, so the times shown are the ones actually open.
Confirm and pay
Complete the booking, and you receive the details for your session.
Sessions Are Booked Online
Sessions booked through LifeHetu are online, and LifeHetu provides no detoxification, withdrawal management, medical monitoring, inpatient care or rehabilitation of any kind. After connecting with a practitioner, you may discuss directly whether other forms of care would be appropriate for your situation — a practitioner or medical professional may recommend services that LifeHetu does not provide and does not manage.
Related Pages
Questions About Substance Use and Addiction
A health condition in which a pattern of alcohol or drug use is associated with significant impairment, distress or harm — to physical health, mental health or daily life. Classification systems describe related but distinct concepts including harmful patterns of use and dependence. Whether a pattern meets the threshold for a disorder is a clinical judgement made by a qualified professional, and this page deliberately offers no checklist to attempt it with.
No. Most substance use is not a disorder. The WHO reports around 296 million people aged 15–64 worldwide used a drug at least once in 2021, while about 39.5 million were living with drug use disorders — global estimates, but the gap between them is the point. That said, the opposite conclusion is also wrong: the WHO describes alcohol as a psychoactive and toxic substance that plays a causal role in more than 200 health conditions, and says consumption even at low levels can bring health risks. Neither "only a problem if you are addicted" nor "any use is addiction" is accurate.
They overlap and are used differently in different places. The WHO describes dependence as a disorder of regulation of substance use whose characteristic feature is a strong internal drive to use — impaired control, increasing priority given to use, and persistence despite harm — with physiological features such as tolerance and withdrawal possibly also present. Physical dependence alone can develop in contexts nobody would call addiction, including with some medicines taken exactly as prescribed. Tolerance and withdrawal may accompany the broader pattern but do not by themselves establish it.
Difficulty controlling how much or how often, strong cravings, use taking increasing priority over other things, continuing despite consequences, unsuccessful attempts to cut down, effects on work, study, money or relationships, use in risky situations, physical or mental health problems connected to use, and symptoms when cutting down or stopping. None of these is a test, no number of them establishes anything, and each can have other explanations. What they are useful for is deciding whether to talk to someone qualified.
Not always, and this matters. For some patterns of physical dependence, stopping abruptly can produce significant withdrawal that requires medical supervision — this is particularly relevant with alcohol, where severe withdrawal can be dangerous. If you think you may be physically dependent, or you have experienced withdrawal before when cutting down, get medical advice about how to proceed rather than relying on a plan from a website. This page gives no tapering schedule, no timings and no amounts, for any substance.
Detoxification, or withdrawal management, means safely getting through acute withdrawal with whatever medical support that requires. What it involves and where it should happen depend on the substance, the degree of dependence and the person's physical health. Two things are worth being clear on: it is not by itself treatment for a substance use disorder — it addresses the acute phase, and what follows is where most of the work is — and it is not something to attempt from instructions found online. This page contains no withdrawal protocol, deliberately.
Seizures, severe confusion, hallucinations, severe agitation, a racing or irregular heartbeat, repeated vomiting or inability to keep fluids down, or rapid physical deterioration after stopping or cutting down all need urgent medical assessment. Do not attempt to judge severity yourself or wait to see whether it settles — go to the nearest hospital or contact emergency services.
Treat it as an emergency and get medical help immediately. Someone unconscious or who cannot be woken, whose breathing is slow, shallow, noisy or stopping, who has had a seizure, who is severely confused or collapsed, or whose lips or skin look blue or grey needs emergency services or the nearest hospital now. Stay with them. Do not walk them around, give them coffee, put them under a cold shower, make them vomit or let them sleep it off — these are not treatments, they are delays, and emergency services have treatments available that nobody else does.
Counselling can be one component of support for some people, but substance use disorders may also require medical assessment, withdrawal management, medication or specialist addiction services depending on the situation. Addiction medicine is a distinct specialism — NIMHANS runs a dedicated Centre for Addiction Medicine — and where that level of care is needed, general counselling is not a substitute for it. Booking Adult Counselling through LifeHetu is booking counselling, and nothing more than that.
Yes, for some. Medication is an established part of treatment for certain substance use disorders, and the WHO notes that effective treatment interventions for opioid dependence exist and can reduce the risk of overdose. Which medication, for whom, and alongside what else are decisions for appropriately qualified medical professionals after individual assessment. This page names no medicines, gives no doses and provides no protocols, and LifeHetu does not prescribe.
It is common, and it is information rather than failure. It does not mean treatment did not work and it does not undo what changed before. What it usually means is that the plan needs revisiting with whoever is involved in that person's care, sooner rather than later — and there is a practical safety reason for the urgency, since risk can be higher after a period of not using because tolerance changes. It is also not inevitable: many people change their use and it holds.
Speak without judgement, describe what you have noticed rather than what they are doing wrong, and pick a moment when they are not intoxicated and not in front of others. Encourage professional assessment and offer to help arrange it. Know the emergency signs. Do not attempt to run a detox — do not suddenly remove a substance from someone who may be dependent, confine or restrain them, or give them medication that is not theirs. And set aside the common advice that they must "hit rock bottom": waiting for things to get worse is not a plan, because sometimes what is at the bottom is an overdose.
Yes. LifeHetu enables online session booking, and practitioners offering Adult Counselling are listed on this page with their current fees. Browsing or booking requires no disclosure of which substances are involved or anything about your history. LifeHetu provides no detoxification, withdrawal management, medical monitoring, inpatient care or rehabilitation, and if any of those is what you need, counselling is not a substitute. For a child or teenager, Child & Adolescent Counselling is the right service rather than this listing.
Sources & References
- World Health Organization — AlcoholThat ethanol is a psychoactive and toxic substance with dependence-producing properties; that alcohol plays a causal role in more than 200 diseases, injuries and other health conditions; that it is an established carcinogen and is linked to liver and cardiovascular disease, several cancers, depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorders; that consumption even at low levels can bring health risks while most harm comes from heavy episodic or heavy continuous drinking; the estimates of people living with alcohol use disorders and with alcohol dependence; and that the proportion of people with alcohol use disorders in contact with treatment services ranges from under 1% to no more than 14%.
- World Health Organization — Opioid overdoseThe description of dependence as a disorder of regulation of substance use characterised by a strong internal drive to use, impaired control, increasing priority given to use and persistence despite harm, with physiological features including tolerance and withdrawal; the estimates of people who used drugs and of people living with drug use disorders; that opioids can cause difficulties with breathing and that overdose can lead to death; that effective treatment interventions for opioid dependence exist and can decrease overdose risk; and that fewer than one in ten people needing such treatment receive it.
- WHO and UNODC — International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use DisordersThat treatment for substance use disorders spans psychosocial interventions, pharmacological treatment, withdrawal management and longer-term support, and should be matched to individual needs rather than delivered as a single model.
- World Health Organization — ICD-11 classificationHow disorders due to substance use are classified, including the distinction between harmful patterns of use and dependence.
- World Health Organization — mhGAP ProgrammeThat substance use disorders are among the WHO priority conditions with published guidance for management in non-specialised health settings.
- NIMHANS — Centre for Addiction MedicineThat addiction medicine exists in India as a distinct specialism with dedicated multidisciplinary services, which is the basis for this page distinguishing specialist addiction care from general counselling. NIMHANS has no association with LifeHetu and does not endorse it.
A note on review scope: this page is reviewed by Mahalakshmi Rajagopal for psychological accuracy. It is not medically reviewed. The statements here about withdrawal, overdose, medication and physical health rest on the authoritative sources listed above rather than on that review, and nothing on this page is a substitute for assessment by a medical professional.
Explore Practitioners Offering Adult Counselling
Counselling can be one part of support for some people experiencing difficulties related to alcohol or other substance use. The practitioners below currently offer Adult Counselling through LifeHetu. This listing does not mean that every practitioner specialises in substance use disorders or provides detoxification, withdrawal management, medication treatment or rehabilitation. Review each practitioner’s professional background and services carefully, and seek appropriate medical or specialist addiction care where needed.
Appearing in this list means one thing: that practitioner currently offers Adult Counselling. It is not a statement about experience with substance use, and it is not a claim that any of them provides addiction treatment. LifeHetu certifies nobody as an addiction or substance use specialist, does not rank practitioners and does not match you to one. If you are seeking treatment specifically for a substance use disorder, check whether a practitioner’s profile clearly lists relevant training or experience — and where dependence, withdrawal or physical health may be involved, medical assessment comes first rather than instead.
These practitioners offer Adult Counselling. If you are concerned about a child or teenager, see the pathway above rather than booking from this list.
9 practitioners offering Adult Counselling
Mr Abhishek Faria
6 years in practice
Doctoral Candidate at California Southern University
Online session: Video · Phone Call · Chat
Languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati
Fee: ₹1800 per session
Ms Priya Parwani
6 years in practice
Bachelor's in Psychology Master's in Psychology PG Diploma in Counselling Psychology
Online session: Video
Languages: English, Hindi
Fee: ₹1000 per session
Mrs Mahalakshmi Rajagopal
28 years in practice
MSW, MSc
Online session: Video
Languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam
Fee: ₹1800 per session
Ms Sonali Sikdar
16 years in practice
Online session: Video
Languages: English, Hindi, Marathi
Fee: ₹1500 per session
Dr. S.S. Saini
10 years in practice
M.Phil (Clinical Psychology), Ph.D (Clinical Psychology),PGDCBM with 10 years experience
Online session: Video · Phone Call
Languages: English, Hindi, Punjabi
Fee: ₹1500 per session
Dr Jignesh Ahir
11 years in practice
Masters in Applied Psychology, M.Phil. Ph.D in Psychology Research Gold Medalist
Online session: Video · Call · Chat
Languages: English, Hindi, Gujrati
Fee: ₹2000 per session
Ms Parinaaz Irani
8 years in practice
Online session: Video
Languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati
Fee: ₹1500 per session
Irshad Md
5 years in practice
Online session: Video
Languages: English, Hindi, Telugu, Urdu
Fee: ₹2000 per session
Dr Rainy Bhuyan
12 years in practice
MPT Neurosciences and Psychosomatic Disorders, Internationally Certified Aura Reader
Online session: Video
Languages: English, Hindi, Gujarati
Fee: ₹1000 per session
Fees and availability shown come from each practitioner’s own current settings. Read more about Adult Counselling.
What to Consider When Choosing a Practitioner
Their actual professional role
What a practitioner is qualified to do differs, and it does not follow from offering Adult Counselling. Medical assessment, withdrawal management and prescribing sit with particular professions.
Whether substance-use experience is stated
If a profile describes relevant training or experience, that is worth weighing. If it does not, ask rather than assume — LifeHetu has not verified it either way.
Counselling or specialist treatment
These are different things. Adult Counselling is not a substitute for medical detoxification, withdrawal management or specialist addiction treatment when those are needed. Be clear which you are looking for.
Whether medical input is needed first
Where dependence or withdrawal risk may be present, a medical assessment should come before or alongside counselling — not after something goes wrong.
Services, qualifications and years in practice
What you can actually book with them, the training they hold, and when they started practising.
Languages, fee and availability
The languages they offer sessions in, the current fee, and when they have time open.
Asking a practitioner directly about their experience with substance use, and about what they can and cannot offer, is a reasonable question and a good practitioner will expect it. This listing is not ranked or scored, and no one on it has been assessed by LifeHetu for substance use disorders in particular.
Explore Professional Support Options
Review practitioners offering Adult Counselling through LifeHetu, their professional backgrounds and current online booking options.