Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Joseph Gerstein

DOING AWAY WITH PEJORATIVE LABELS CAN EASE PATH TO GETTING HELP WITH ADDICTION

I am responding to Felice Freyer's excellent article on the negative 
effects of pejorative labeling in describing people with addiction 
problems or of asking them to so self-identify ("A struggle to 
rewrite the language of addiction").

Freyer sought opinions on this issue from a wide variety of prominent 
addiction researchers and people who have suffered from addictions.

However, she could also have noted there have been more than 26,000 
free meetings in Massachusetts since 1990 of groups using the SMART 
Recovery Self-Help Program, which eschews such labeling. We are all 
multifaceted, complex individuals. No one would suggest or expect 
that people with a diabetes problem would describe themselves in an 
introductory setting by saying, "I am a diabetic."

Some people, who perhaps have denied for years the severity and 
tenacity of their addiction problem, appear to have benefited from 
affirming its seriousness by accepting such stigmatizing terminology. 
However, many find it degrading or humiliating, and research suggests 
it has a negative impact on the individual, treatment providers, 
friends, and families.

Attending one's first addiction-recovery meeting is usually a 
frightening prospect, and something many people put off doing, 
sometimes for years. The less degrading the experience can be 
expected to be, the more likely there will be less of a barrier to attending.

Dr. Joseph Gerstein

Wayland

The writer is founding president of the SMART Recovery Self-Help Network.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom