Meaning & use
self-medicate
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Meanings
verbintransitive
to treat your own illness or symptoms with medicine, usually without asking a doctor.
Grammar: No object: you self-medicate. Do not say 'self-medicate a headache'; say 'self-medicate for a headache'.
Patterns
- self-medicate with something
- self-medicate for something
Instead of seeing a doctor, he self-medicated with painkillers for weeks.
Some people self-medicate for anxiety with alcohol, which can make things worse.
She warned her students not to self-medicate for long periods.
verbintransitivedisapproving
to use alcohol or drugs to deal with emotional problems rather than getting proper help.
Grammar: No object; often followed by with: self-medicate with drugs.
Patterns
- self-medicate with alcohol
- self-medicate with drugs
After losing his job, he began to self-medicate with alcohol.
The report says many patients self-medicate rather than seek therapy.
She realized she was self-medicating to cope with stress.
Word forms
| third person singular | self-medicates |
|---|---|
| past tense | self-medicated |
| past participle | self-medicated |
| -ing form | self-medicating |
Common combinations
- self-medicate with painkillers
- He self-medicated with painkillers instead of getting a diagnosis.
- self-medicate for anxiety
- She started to self-medicate for anxiety before her exams.
- self-medicate rather than see a doctor
- Many people self-medicate rather than see a doctor.
- self-medicate with alcohol
- He was self-medicating with alcohol to sleep at night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- treat yourself
- More neutral and general; it does not suggest doing anything wrong, while self-medicate often hints at a lack of medical advice.
Word family
- self-medication noun
- The act of treating yourself with medicine without a doctor's advice.
- medicate verb
- To give someone medicine, usually as a doctor or nurse.
- medication noun
- Medicine that you take to treat an illness.
Commonly confused: self-medicate or meditate?
self-medicate vs meditate
Meditate means to focus your mind quietly; self-medicate means to take medicine or drugs on your own.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
Self-medicate is intransitive, so it cannot take a direct object; use for before the condition. 'Self-medicated his headache' is wrong because it treats the verb as transitive.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-medicate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.