Tambien se podria usar abandonar el vicio de las drogas, o quitar or abandonar.

I would say "abandonar la addicción". The symptoms that the addict goes trough because of the withdrawal are called "síndrome de abstinencia".

Criss, which is the exact sentence?

i am going through withdrawal: Estoy padeciendo el síndrome de abstinencia

It's not really a sentence, it's the title of a section: Withdrawal and Other Mental Health Issues (and the term will be used repeatedly in the section as well, I'm sure - I haven't read it yet).

"Síndrome de abstinencia" sounds so... passive? The addict is abstaining from the addiction, but (at least to my mind) the term does not bring to mind the idea of going through a tough time from stopping an action that was habitual (as opposed to simply "not doing" something you were not doing before, which is what "abstinence" says to me).

I'll probably use the different expressions suggested here, depending on the use in the individual sentences, to help create the full picture.

Criss.

As a title I I would definitely go with síndrome de abstinencia.it might sound passive to you, but for a Spanish speaking person it holds the image of a strong and rough fight, people vomiting, trembling...I mean, nothing passive about this.

I think the suggestion of H and G is good, although I share your feeling that it doesn't quite have the impact of the English. In colloquial speech, we can say pasar el mono for "to be in withdrawal," but in a formal context, the above suggestion is probably the best. However, I did also find use of "síntomas de abstinencia," which to me sounds better because it focuses more on the symptoms (shakes, vomiting, fever, etc.) that a drug addict may suffer.

No offense at all intended, but I wonder if you are in over your head on this translation. I've been a full-time translator for nearly 20 years (not Spanish), and I know that every translator sometimes bites off more than he can chew, but if you don't have a solid basis in medical literature, you might want to look for work in another field of specialization. Either that, or really start reading medical journals a lot. It will take about 5-10 years for you to become proficient.

When I took this assignment, I was told it would be a proofreading job (checking to make sure accents were in the right place, etc.) However, when I started working on it, I realized how bad the original translation was - some sections look like they were done through an online translator, entire paragraphs were completely omitted, some sentences were translated so poorly they said the opposite of what the original text said. Therefore, I'm re-translating the book (unfortunately, for the same fee as a simple, quick proofreading job). This has also taken much longer than I originally planned, so right now I'm working from my sister's kitchen table in Geneva, while on vacation visiting her and my new nephew, instead of at home, with all my books, dictionaries and other references.

This chapter had all this medical jargon in it (first two pages of it), which has been challenging for me since I don't have the medical background, but the rest of the book has not been so "scientific" (deals more with the psychology of addiction recovery, which I can handle). The original translator had written "Síntomas de abstinencia" for "withdrawal," but that just seemed wrong, too weak, to me - and given all the other mistakes I've seen, I didn't feel I could trust what he/she had written (this is, after all, the same person who translated "evolution" as "evaluacion").

I understand your concern (especially now, as I slowly trudge through the wreckage a bad translator can leave behind), and I appreciate the help. This job has been quite a learning experience for me, and I'm not referring to the medical jargon I've learned.

Criss.

When I took this assignment, I was told it would be a proofreading job (checking to make sure accents were in the right place, etc.) However, when I started working on it, I realized how bad the original translation was...

I feel your pain, Criss. This is every translator's nightmare. It is much harder to fix a bad translation than to translate from scratch.