The process of recovery is complex, it throws many challenges at anyone struggling with addiction. On top of personal struggles, a person recovering from substance use disorder may face stigma in their daily life. An isolating experience, addiction stigma makes it harder to reach out for help. However, despite the difficulties it presents, it is still important to overcome stigma. In this blog, we’ll explore addiction stigma, how it affects people with substance use disorder, and how to overcome it.

What is stigma?

Stigma is when a person or group of people are viewed in a negative light. These negative attitudes include discrimination, prejudice, judgment, and stereotypes. Originating from Latin and Greek, the word ‘stigma’ originally referred to a mark inflicted upon a person to signify their disgrace. Often impacting people with characteristics like a disability, a mental health condition, or drug and alcohol use, stigma carries real consequences.

Types of Stigma

Stigma is generally broken into three categories. These three categories can overlap, causing devastating impacts on members of stigmatized groups.

First, there is social stigma, where members of a group perceived to have socially undesirable characteristics are negatively stereotyped. As a result, these people are distanced and excluded from society, even as these stereotypes are based on misunderstandings, partial truths, and generalizations. 

Next, there is self-stigma, in which members of a stigmatized group come to believe negative stereotypes about themselves. For people with substance use disorder, self-stigma causes feelings of shame and a fear of asking for help. Not to mention, the ‘why try effect,’ where a person with substance use disorder believes that seeking help is hopeless. This is either because they believe that they are too fundamentally flawed to recover, or because they become convinced that the barriers to recovery are too great to overcome.

Finally, there is structural stigma, which takes the form of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices that negatively impact a stigmatized group. 

How does stigma affect people with substance use disorder?

Stigma of addiction is rooted in a belief that substance use disorder is a personal choice and a moral failing, one that reflects a lack of willpower. Rates of stigma are actually high within professions whose members interact with people with addiction, such as healthcare professionals, alongside the general public.

People with substance use disorder are often labeled as ‘addicts’ and ‘alcoholics’ and are perceived as untrustworthy, deceitful, dangerous, and lacking in character and willpower. In addition to ‘addict,’ terms like ‘junkie’ have been shown by studies to actively feed into negative biases and dehumanize people. This language has even been found to sway the attitudes of clinicians, pushing more blame onto the person struggling with substance use disorder.

In daily life, stigma can seriously impact a person with substance use disorder. It can cause someone to avoid seeking help due to a fear of judgment, or of getting in trouble with work, their loved ones, or with the law. A person impacted by stigma may hide their substance use. They may also struggle to find housing or work, negatively impacting their quality of life. Stigma also negatively impacts the quality of care a person with substance use disorder can receive from the healthcare system. Finally, the negative impact of stigma also reaches the friends and family of a person struggling with substance use disorder, as well as organizations and people who provide support.

How can we overcome the stigma of addiction?

We can overcome the stigma of addiction by first understanding substance use disorders as chronic, treatable medical conditions. In addition, we can replace stigmatizing language with preferred, empowering language that does not carry negative connotations or equate people to their condition. For example researchers have found that person-first language helps reduce stigma by focusing on a person rather than on their condition. 

Using appropriate language and undergoing proper training to treat people with substance use disorder is especially important for healthcare professionals. As well, it’s important to address the systemic discrimination that adds more layers of stigma for a person to experience. Finally, it is also important to recognize that treatment works. By changing the conversation around substance use disorder, we can recognize that people struggling with the condition deserve the same support as people dealing with any other health issue.

Overcome Your Addiction with Never Alone Recovery

When a person experiences stigma, their life is made significantly more difficult. A person suffering because of addiction stigma may be unwilling to ask for help. However, by changing the way in which substance use disorder is understood and diminishing that stigma, we can enable that person to reach out, find help, and recover.

As demonstrated, suffering from substance use disorder is not a moral failing. If you or a loved one is struggling with substance use disorder, there is never shame in reaching out. Call Never Alone Recovery today at 1-844-422-2311 to learn about our Indiana rehab and online support group. With our peer recovery consultants, we can help you explore our Never Alone Recovery services  and find the insurance-approved rehab that is right for you.