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Addiction Treatment
Take Pride in Your Recovery
Overcoming Shame Is Part of Overcoming Addiction
Defining the Stigma of Addiction
Webster’s dictionary defines stigma as a mark of shame or discredit. Addictions are typically attached to a feeling of shame or criticism, a sense of eternal judgment by a label. Society frequently perceives drug and alcohol addiction as a matter of morals, ethics, and criminality instead of a health problem. Even people who have been in recovery for years face the stereotype that they are somehow lower class citizens.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) states the stigma of mental and substance use disorders as complicated attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and structures that interact as individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that develop into discriminatory thoughts and acts.
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The Stigma of Addiction and Mental Illness
A 2013 national public opinion survey from Growth from Knowledge (Gfk), one of the world’s largest market research institutes, demonstrated that Americans hold significantly more negative attitudes toward individuals with drug addictions than those with mental illness. Although there is a want for social distancing from both groups, more respondents were against having an individual with drug addiction marry into their family or work closely with them on a job compared with an individual with mental illness.
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Different types of Stigma
The NIH recognizes three different types of stigma: structural, public and self.
Public stigma
The general public’s negative opinions and the predetermined judgments of specific subgroups, such as first responders, judges, and police.
Self Stigma
The discriminating methods associated with public stigma become unmistakable to people with substance use disorders, and they manifest this offensive stigma, wielding it upon themselves. Internalization of negative perceptions is predominant in self stigmatization.
Structural stigma
The prejudice and discrimination in public and private institutions, government and legal systems, employers, educational institutions, health care systems, the criminal justice system, and the courts. Structural and public stigma interrelate because public stigma continues due to structural stigma in laws, regulations, and policies that support these prejudices and discriminations.
The Stigma of Recovery
Many studies have shown a strong correlation between a person experiencing the stigmas of addiction and their recovery. The research demonstrates how large of a role stigma plays in addiction, treatment, and after rehabilitation. Individuals continue to face negative views and harsh judgments beyond treatment and isolate themselves as when they were using, intensifying their relapse chances. If relapse does happen, it’s as if that attempt at recovery never happened.
Perhaps they lose everything, all their progress, and disappoint people. So what? Why try? They are returning to what society perceives of them, sober or not.Addiction treatment facilities that focus on incorporating the stigma of addiction in their treatment effectively build lasting peace of mind. Northridge Addiction Treatment Center recognizes the enduring effect of stigma on a person’s rehabilitation, and we commit to challenging that stigma. NATC strives to establish a healthy groundwork that leaves one equipped to overcome and reject derogatory labels and stereotypes.
Addiction Stigma Quotes
“I look at my arms, and I think God, who wants to go out with that? Heroin doesn’t leave those kind of marks, that’s ice. But that affects me, do you know what I mean? Like I can’t wear short tops, I can’t, just can’t be a normal person anymore.”, Isobel*
“Sometimes I go outside, and I really feel hated… I thought it must be how I dress or [the] expression on my face or something. You just constantly feel like you’ve got a big neon sign on your head saying ‘loser,’ you know, ‘contemptible loser.’ So when someone actually in a shop or something they’ll actually smile at you or act like you’re a normal being, human being, it’s really restorative, it cheers me up for days.”, Lachlan*
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to be happy with yourself, and I’m not happy with myself, I don’t look in the mirror and say I love myself, I don’t even like myself, I self loathe myself, I hate myself, I hate what I’ve done to myself and done to others by doing it to myself.”, Tim*
*(U.S. National Institute of Health, National Library of Medicine Journal Literature, Stigma and Self Stigma in Addiction)
Addiction Stigma Examples
- If you have ever turned down a drink at a social gathering and everyone immediately asked if anything was wrong
- If you have ever been asked, “Why aren’t you drinking tonight?” at a social gathering for whatever reason, and you were afraid to answer because you felt somebody might judge you
These are some examples of situations of the stigma of addiction. While these circumstances might not stand out in your mind if you don’t have a substance use disorder, this scenario is an enormous obstacle to someone struggling with alcoholism.
Frequently asked questions about Addiction
How Does Society View Recovering Addicts?
The word “addict” accompanies so many negative inclinations, and often addiction is perceived as a devious or criminal matter. Studies have shown that levels of stigma depend on the level of intimacy. Social rejection is more probable when there is less distance in the societal relationship.
Many studies indicate stigma is higher for people with substance use disorder than other conditions. The societal view of addiction is neither accurate nor fair; nevertheless, discrimination against recovering addicts lingers. However, many negative symptoms that cause stigmatization associated with addiction usually decrease or disappear when properly managed and treated.
