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Why We Should Say Someone Is A 'Person With An Addiction,' Not An Addict (www.npr.org)

 

Some commentary written by Maia Szalavitz who is one of my favorite writers.





For years, people with addiction have wondered when the media would recognize our condition as a medical problem, not a moral one — when they would stop reducing us to mere "addicts" and speak of us in the more respectful and accurate "person first" language that has become common for people with other diseases and disorders.

Last week, The Associated Press took an important step in that direction. The new edition of its widely used AP Stylebook declares that "addict" should no longer be used as a noun. "Instead," it says, "choose phrasing like he was addicted, people with heroin addiction or he used drugs." In short, separate the person from the disease.

The style guide clarifies other important language to maximize precision and reduce bias in addiction coverage. There are new entries on "alcoholic" and on an array of substances, from bath salts and cocaine to PCP and synthetic cannabis.

Unlike many matters of style, these changes aren't mere semantics or political correctness. Widespread media misunderstanding of the fundamental nature of addiction has led to some deadly misconceptions about how it should be managed. The AP provides news to around 15,000 media organizations and businesses, and its stylebook is highly influential in setting standards for usage. If its more accurate terms are adopted and understood by institutions like The New York Times and CBS News, it could genuinely help improve drug treatment and policy by reducing stigma against lifesaving forms of treatment — amid an overdose crisis that shows no signs of slowing.

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Thanks Robert!

I can't imagine how health planning isn't better and more cost-effective when consumers are part of the planning process.

Shifting to the affirmative can make a big difference for a lot of people and feel more helpful and less stigmatizing.

I think the co-dependency model is still highly contested depending on where/how it is used. 

It's nice to have another member of ACEs on the East Coast ACEs member. I'm in MA and our numbers are growing
Cissy

Christine Cissy White: my thesis was "The Current and Potential Role of Consumers in the New Hampshire Health Planning Process"-during the tenure of the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-641)-which mandated "Consumer Majorities" on all health planning and resource development boards. (Before the Reagan admin later cut the funding for 'government-mandated Citizen Participation' in health planning).

I recall when Co-Dependents Anonymous finished Re-Writing ALL their materials, 'in the Affirmative' [roughly late 1994]: (Used to be 'a Fellowship of Men and Women whose common PROBLEM was an Inability to maintain...' to a 'Fellowship...whose common PURPOSE was to DEVELOP healthy and fulfilling relationships.)  I recently came across a dissertation whose abstract notes: "Co- Dependency is a highly contested construct..."

It's about time! Those in the addiction field have been saying this for so long now! A person isn't a Bipolar, they're a person with symptoms of bipolar...so it's not an "addict", it's a person with an addiction!

Robert:

It's hard to stay on top of all the new and improved language changes but it's exciting to see how many there are! I bet your thesis was awesome. What was the topic? Cissy

Leisa:

You are so right. I think there are some things we feel are off even before anyone officially changes the language or says or explains why. I also like how this article differentiates the first-person use because I do think there are words we say, or reclaim, and that is also real and important. But I like how it's left only to those with addiction to define themselves using the word addict. I'm sure there's not a one way people feel and I like that there's some flex in this rule as well as greater awareness. Cis


This is wonderful to hear. It would seem that this should have always been the norm, after all, we'd never say that who has cancer is cancer. But the shift in recognizing any kind of mental illness as a medical condition has been slow to come to fruition. This is definitely a step in the right direction. 

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