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Stigma of Addiction

Most people who struggle with an addictive disorder fail to seek treatment, in part because of their concern that they will be labeled an addict, a loser or a criminal. Often times, people would rather risk death than admit they have a problem and seek treatment.  Many times, a crisis such as an overdose precipitates treatment, so the problem is already well-advanced.

We live in a society where we allow what others think of us to control what we say, think, eat, and wear, even the steps we take to be healthy.  If we removed the stigma, guilt and shame from the equation, people would find it easier to make a realistic, objective assessment of their substance misuse and seek help.

But just like chronic liver disease, caused from drinking too much alcohol, is considered a disease or medical condition, so is addiction.  Addiction is a disease that often starts innocently enough with a prescription, or the intent to use once "to see what it's all about". But it can quickly become a disease that is out of control.

In addition to the stigma society imposes on addiction, there are stigmas within the addiction community as well.  For example, some people think that since they don’t use a needle to administer their drug of choice, they aren’t an addict.  Other believe that since it’s “just alcohol”, they aren’t an addict.  However, drugs not administered via needle are still addictive and deadly.  And, since alcohol is a legal drug, most people don’t realize it is one of the most addictive drugs available and detoxing from a severe and prolonged alcohol addiction too quickly can be deadly.

​The good news is, just like any other disease, addiction can be reversed or at least treated.








Lack of exercise, bad eating habits, and poor sleep patterns can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, yet those preventable diseases don’t carry the same judgmental stigma as addiction.  You don’t see people shaming someone because they have diabetes or a heart condition that could have been prevented.  You see them encouraged to seek medical help.  Yet, you don’t see them cast aside if they don’t have the willpower to tame their sugar cravings, to eat better, or to exercise more.  Addiction recovery is hard.  Hard on the addict, hard on society, and hard on the loved ones who have been affected by the ripple effects.  So, we give up too easily, look down our noses, and cast the offender aside.

Addiction isn’t just about the drunk sitting at his local bar, it’s not just the junkie shooting up in a back alley, and it isn’t the executive snorting cocaine in the bathroom just to make the high pressure of their stressful job easier.  Addiction is about real people, real families, and the lives it destroys.

The man who was abused or neglected as a child doesn’t understand that he’s drinking to fill the void of feeling like he never really mattered.  The women who was raped and traumatized knows that using drugs isn’t the best way to dull her emotional pain, but she doesn’t know any other way to get through it. The young man who was prescribed pain killers for a root canal, then found he felt like he fit in better with his friends at school when he was high. The young child who’s home alone, hungry and scared because mommy is out somewhere scoring her fix. 

Stories like this are endless.  The sad reality is that, regardless of the underlying cause, untreated, substance abuse will lead to addiction, which will lead to a brain disease, making it almost impossible to quit.


It’s the individual stories that make it hit home…stories that make you understand that addiction isn’t a moral failing.  It isn’t the result of lack of discipline.  Substance abuse starts as a temporary solution to a problem or underlying cause, then it becomes an addiction.  Then addiction becomes a brain disease, making it extremely difficult to reverse.