How stigma influences the behavior of people with addictions
Have you ever
heard someone call another person a “Junkie?” I have heard that word before
used to describe someone who is actively using drugs. There are many other words
people use to degrade someone with an addiction. However, drug addiction is a
condition in which people must fully understand to end an endemic. Stigma is
the discrimination towards something. Usually, stigma are hateful words spewed
to something that is out of societal norms. This is specifically aimed at drug
abuse. Finding new words instead of “junkie,” and creating a new understanding
for people going through this condition is imperative. The stigma around people
with substance abuse issues will create reluctance towards receiving help,
worsen the addiction, and lower their self-esteem.
While words
can hurt, they can also push someone into furthering a bad habit. The negative
words or stigma around substance abuse can lead to people worsening their
addiction. As human beings we tend to take part in different activities that
allow us to feel pleasure mentally and physically. Our emotions drive us
towards these fulfilling activities, so if we feel sad, we may go towards a
specific activity that feels the most enjoyable. These activities may not be
the healthiest or best options; for example, there are times where I have
complained about my weight, and instead of eating healthily, I go back to
eating a bunch of cookies or junk food.
This concept
is the same thing stigma does to people with substance abuse issues. As said in
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug use is continued and amplified when
others decide to ridicule and expel substance abusers from societal
acceptance. If our society does not grasp the consequences of stigma towards people
with a drug addiction, then we may possibly cause the deaths of people who desperately
wanted to get better. Shameful words cause the vicious cycle of continuous drug
abuse because, “a common coping method to deal with shame is substance
abuse. Shame is a good justification for an addict,” according to MakanaPath.
People all around the United States stigmatize substance
abusers, so that includes families, employers, friends, and medical
professionals. You’ve probably have had a doctor that seemed annoyed,
impatient, or judgmental. These healthcare providers that show those types of
traits can persuade you to change healthcare providers or to not go to the
doctors at all. Based off American Addiction Centers, when doctors and other
medical personnel hold blatant judgement towards people with drug issues, they
may feel compelled to refuse help to people that are yearning for treatment for
their substance abuse. Overall,
if you knew someone constantly judged you, you would avoid them too.
According to John Hopkins Bloomberg Public School of Health,
a random sample of participants who were asked to reveal their attitudes on
mental illness and drug addiction. Many of the respondents, specifically
forty-three percent, declared that people with addictions should not be given
rights to the same health-insurance benefits as the rest of the United States
citizens. Certainly, realizing that others feel this way would make anyone with
an addiction feel ashamed and may hide their addiction than rather get help.
As social beings, we need to feel accepted and socially
intertwined with the environment around us; not feeling accepted can make you
feel very lonely or hopeless. In the National Library of Medicine, when people
with substance use disorders realize that they are shunned and no longer
accepted by the public, they assimilate themselves to whatever negative
comments they are receiving.
Basically, they feel and believe that they are the
terrible people that society makes them out to be. This leads to, people then
feeling as though it’s not worth trying to get better because no one cares
about them.
On the other hand, people that are stigmatizing others may think it will compel someone to stop the action that is perceived as outside of the social norm. However, a study was composed of rodents who were
given the choice of heroin or social interaction. When the social interaction
was not presented as an option they chose the drugs, but when socializing
became one of the options, the rodents chose it over the drugs. This proves
that when people are forcibly removed from acceptance, their addiction is pushed
further into despair.
At the end of the day, stigma towards people struggling with addiction
can severely influence the way their addiction continues. Education can lead to
acceptance and understanding and learning how to navigate this world in loving
and caring ways can lead to healthier people. A quote from Alice Miller sums up
the action we need to take for a better world. “What is addiction, really? It
is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us
about a plight that must be understood.”
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