Health Officials Highlight the Stigmatizing Language Of Addiction
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Health Officials Highlight the Stigmatizing Language Of Addiction
Before a recent naloxone-training event, public health officials offered a lesson about the language surrounding addiction.
The way we talk about addiction has a lot to do with how we perceive it, and the people who are affected by it. Public health officials in Nashua, New Hampshire, sought to drive this message home at a public event—with a lesson on stigmatizing language.
About 30 people gathered at the Nashua Public Library for a free training session last month on how to administer the overdose reversal drug, naloxone (also known as Narcan). The event was prefaced with a vocabulary lesson, which illustrated the power of both stigmatizing and empowering language when discussing people who use mind-altering substances.
A handout provided to NHPR by Nashua’s Department of Public Health (DPH), suggests saying “person with a substance use disorder” instead of “addict, junkie, or alcoholic.” Instead of saying “clean,” a better alternative would be “abstinent” or “not using.”
The list goes on, and its message is clear: language matters. And it’s about more than political correctness. “When we change the way we discuss substance use, we are not simply being ‘politically correct,’ we are actually changing the way the people around us perceive, understand, and respond to substance use,” reads the handout.
More people are getting on board with this language overhaul. Last year, the National Press Foundation wrote guidelines for journalists on how to write about addiction without marginalizing, or “othering,” the community.
DPH even acknowledges that some people in the recovery community may still choose to identify as an “addict” or “alcoholic”—and if they choose to do so, more power to them.
“[These] are terms used in anonymous communities as part of their culture and fellowship, and they have been used for a long time,” reads the handout. “If someone chooses to self-identify as an ‘addict’ or ‘alcoholic,’ it is not up to anyone else to correct them, because they are using that term in a way that has assisted with their own self-acceptance and recovery.”
Psychotherapist Dr. Suzette Glasner told The Fix last year that for some, using this seemingly stigmatizing terminology can unite people with a shared problem.
“In a room full of other people whose lives have been adversely affected by alcohol use, to refer to oneself as an alcoholic or addict may provide some comfort, because it is a term that describes a problem that unites each person with everyone around them, and it provides a term to describe what it is that they are all suffering from, and a reminder that they are not alone,” said Dr. Glasner.
(Sourced from The Fix - Victoria Kim)
The way we talk about addiction has a lot to do with how we perceive it, and the people who are affected by it. Public health officials in Nashua, New Hampshire, sought to drive this message home at a public event—with a lesson on stigmatizing language.
About 30 people gathered at the Nashua Public Library for a free training session last month on how to administer the overdose reversal drug, naloxone (also known as Narcan). The event was prefaced with a vocabulary lesson, which illustrated the power of both stigmatizing and empowering language when discussing people who use mind-altering substances.
A handout provided to NHPR by Nashua’s Department of Public Health (DPH), suggests saying “person with a substance use disorder” instead of “addict, junkie, or alcoholic.” Instead of saying “clean,” a better alternative would be “abstinent” or “not using.”
The list goes on, and its message is clear: language matters. And it’s about more than political correctness. “When we change the way we discuss substance use, we are not simply being ‘politically correct,’ we are actually changing the way the people around us perceive, understand, and respond to substance use,” reads the handout.
More people are getting on board with this language overhaul. Last year, the National Press Foundation wrote guidelines for journalists on how to write about addiction without marginalizing, or “othering,” the community.
DPH even acknowledges that some people in the recovery community may still choose to identify as an “addict” or “alcoholic”—and if they choose to do so, more power to them.
“[These] are terms used in anonymous communities as part of their culture and fellowship, and they have been used for a long time,” reads the handout. “If someone chooses to self-identify as an ‘addict’ or ‘alcoholic,’ it is not up to anyone else to correct them, because they are using that term in a way that has assisted with their own self-acceptance and recovery.”
Psychotherapist Dr. Suzette Glasner told The Fix last year that for some, using this seemingly stigmatizing terminology can unite people with a shared problem.
“In a room full of other people whose lives have been adversely affected by alcohol use, to refer to oneself as an alcoholic or addict may provide some comfort, because it is a term that describes a problem that unites each person with everyone around them, and it provides a term to describe what it is that they are all suffering from, and a reminder that they are not alone,” said Dr. Glasner.
(Sourced from The Fix - Victoria Kim)
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
When I first encountered the expression "clean and sober" I was appalled. To me the implication was that if one were not "clean and sober" he or she would be "dirty and drunk" or perhaps even a "dirty drunk".
The term "alcoholic" does not appear to me to be judgmental, except for those who don't understand the illness and equate it with "drunk", "lush", "boozer" or even refer to an "alki". "Substance use disorder" is fine even though to me it sounds a little pompous. In any event, I question whether many people will use this term, particularly those who are not making an effort to be "politically correct".
When my maternal grandmother heard that a member of my family had become mentally ill her response was "That's the silliest thing I ever heard! She should just go and get a good grip on herself!" That didn't happen. She committed suicide. If my grandmother had been alive when my sister later took her own life, she might have said that suicide was not only "silly" but "evil". If Grannie is in heaven now I hope she sees things more clearly. It's Easter, so I forgive you Grannie and you sure are "clean and sober"!
W.
The term "alcoholic" does not appear to me to be judgmental, except for those who don't understand the illness and equate it with "drunk", "lush", "boozer" or even refer to an "alki". "Substance use disorder" is fine even though to me it sounds a little pompous. In any event, I question whether many people will use this term, particularly those who are not making an effort to be "politically correct".
When my maternal grandmother heard that a member of my family had become mentally ill her response was "That's the silliest thing I ever heard! She should just go and get a good grip on herself!" That didn't happen. She committed suicide. If my grandmother had been alive when my sister later took her own life, she might have said that suicide was not only "silly" but "evil". If Grannie is in heaven now I hope she sees things more clearly. It's Easter, so I forgive you Grannie and you sure are "clean and sober"!
W.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 125
This is an interesting topic.
There is no way to paint this issue with a wide brush. I have met people who said they knew they were alcoholics the first time they drank. I do not see any immorality in those people.
I on the other hand was a bit ornery for a long time thinking it was never going to catch up to me until the day I realized I not wanted it but needed it. When did the switch happen from me being a little bad and outside the mainstream (Immoral) of the norm to becoming addicted to this poison.
In the beginning I believe it was my immorality that led to my condition.
If I had walked the straight and narrow would I be on this site now? Chances are no, but in my life I overindulged and became addicted.
I wanted to quit for two years before I finally did. During that time I had the best of intentions. As you all know it is tough to quit, and during my younger years I probably looked down my nose as those that I thought did not have the intestinal fortitude to control themselves. I didn't understand, I was ignorant. That is why we gather together on SR or attend AA, to be around those that understand. Should we really care what label some white coat lab rat tries to identify us by. Regardless of how it happened; illness, disease, morality, allergy, it still manifest itself into alcoholism.
I prefer to think of myself as Alan, I was sober today and I will be tomorrow also, And just maybe something I type on this keyboard will help someone else find sobriety too.
There is no way to paint this issue with a wide brush. I have met people who said they knew they were alcoholics the first time they drank. I do not see any immorality in those people.
I on the other hand was a bit ornery for a long time thinking it was never going to catch up to me until the day I realized I not wanted it but needed it. When did the switch happen from me being a little bad and outside the mainstream (Immoral) of the norm to becoming addicted to this poison.
In the beginning I believe it was my immorality that led to my condition.
If I had walked the straight and narrow would I be on this site now? Chances are no, but in my life I overindulged and became addicted.
I wanted to quit for two years before I finally did. During that time I had the best of intentions. As you all know it is tough to quit, and during my younger years I probably looked down my nose as those that I thought did not have the intestinal fortitude to control themselves. I didn't understand, I was ignorant. That is why we gather together on SR or attend AA, to be around those that understand. Should we really care what label some white coat lab rat tries to identify us by. Regardless of how it happened; illness, disease, morality, allergy, it still manifest itself into alcoholism.
I prefer to think of myself as Alan, I was sober today and I will be tomorrow also, And just maybe something I type on this keyboard will help someone else find sobriety too.
All is Change
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,284
I agree it is a good topic. It's provocative.
"who cares" - indeed. I don't. I think those who do care need to find out exactly why they care. I'm for calling a spade a spade, not a Soil Extraction Implement. I'm a :
sot
bum
soak
wino
lush
hobo
souse
stiff
drunk
toper
barfly
bibber
boozer
sponge
guzzler
tippler
tosspot
drinker
carouser
drunkard
pisshead
bacchanal
debauchee
inebriate
alcoholic
inebriate
wine-bibber
dipsomaniac
bacchanalian
hard drinker
problem drinker
substance abuser
who doesn't drink.
read through that and feel your feelings that seem to be related to particular words.
How does how you feel about the word change the words meaning? Does it change the words meaning?
Do you want to be defined by how others feel about what you are? Does how others feel about what you are change what you are? How free are you?
"who cares" - indeed. I don't. I think those who do care need to find out exactly why they care. I'm for calling a spade a spade, not a Soil Extraction Implement. I'm a :
sot
bum
soak
wino
lush
hobo
souse
stiff
drunk
toper
barfly
bibber
boozer
sponge
guzzler
tippler
tosspot
drinker
carouser
drunkard
pisshead
bacchanal
debauchee
inebriate
alcoholic
inebriate
wine-bibber
dipsomaniac
bacchanalian
hard drinker
problem drinker
substance abuser
who doesn't drink.
read through that and feel your feelings that seem to be related to particular words.
How does how you feel about the word change the words meaning? Does it change the words meaning?
Do you want to be defined by how others feel about what you are? Does how others feel about what you are change what you are? How free are you?
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Grymt; I prefer to call myself a "bacchanalian"! This has an antique Wagnerian flavor recalling orgies in Wagner's Tannhauser and Parsifal and Gluck's Orpheus & Eurydice. "Hast du im Venusberg geweilt so bist nun ewig du verdant!" Venusberg!
The operatic literature overlooks the reality that if an alcoholic continues to drink he or she is in hell already. "Life in Death" (or is it the other way around?)
W.
The operatic literature overlooks the reality that if an alcoholic continues to drink he or she is in hell already. "Life in Death" (or is it the other way around?)
W.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 5,453
The only thing that bothers me is when a non drinker tries to say it isn't a disease that it is just a weakness towards something. Really if you want to help people don't argue over what it is...just accept they have a problem and help them. 
It is like those people only care about being right.
It is like those people only care about being right.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 292
The desire to not paint people who battle with addiction as immoral or “bad” people is admirable, particularly if it will make them more likely to accept treatment.
But taking away any negative connotation of using, to spare people’s feelings, will do more harm than good. When it’s simply a choice of “using” vs. “not using,” (as opposed to “using” vs. “clean”) it almost makes it sound like those are equally legitimate, advisable choices, and they’re NOT. It’s not a question of morals, but there is a GOOD course of action (not using, pursuing recovery) and there is a BAD course of action (continued using). It’s not a reflection on the person, it’s a reflection on the action. In my opinion, the tone of the handout cited by the article treads dangerously close to the political correctness seen on college campuses nowadays...and political correctness is garbage. Sadly, I suspect (and I hope I’m wrong) that some of this has more to do with the people AROUND addicts feeling better about themselves rather doing less harm to addicts.
But taking away any negative connotation of using, to spare people’s feelings, will do more harm than good. When it’s simply a choice of “using” vs. “not using,” (as opposed to “using” vs. “clean”) it almost makes it sound like those are equally legitimate, advisable choices, and they’re NOT. It’s not a question of morals, but there is a GOOD course of action (not using, pursuing recovery) and there is a BAD course of action (continued using). It’s not a reflection on the person, it’s a reflection on the action. In my opinion, the tone of the handout cited by the article treads dangerously close to the political correctness seen on college campuses nowadays...and political correctness is garbage. Sadly, I suspect (and I hope I’m wrong) that some of this has more to do with the people AROUND addicts feeling better about themselves rather doing less harm to addicts.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
"and political correctness is garbage."
Rather than describing political correctness as "garbage", why not use the term ""disagreeably pungent disposable waste"? The terms "garbage" and particularly "horrible, smelly, icky garbage" are nauseatingly judgmental! Judgmental people are so smelly! Just thinking of them makes me want to....!
W.
Rather than describing political correctness as "garbage", why not use the term ""disagreeably pungent disposable waste"? The terms "garbage" and particularly "horrible, smelly, icky garbage" are nauseatingly judgmental! Judgmental people are so smelly! Just thinking of them makes me want to....!
W.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
P.S. Since it's Easter and there are likely to be "Egg Hunts" I suggest that the kids not be told that the Easter Bunny "laid" these eggs, since if they have been given a proper "birds and bees" talk they should not assume that rabbits do this, although they may have other skills. In addition, just to make sure one might refer to an "egg"as a "Poultry Reproductive Disposable Accessory Container" ("PRDAC") and tell them to roll their PRDAC's on the "horizontal terrain."
W.
W.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Originally Posted by SoberLeigh 
Good thread, sw, and all.
Lots of food for thought here.
Thank goodness that we, as human beings, continue to grow in compassion and understanding.
Lots of food for thought here.
Thank goodness that we, as human beings, continue to grow in compassion and understanding.
W.
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