When seeking help with substance use problems, people often cite the stigma associated with seeking help as a barrier. The common ways of describing individuals with such problems may perpetuate or diminish stigmatizing attitudes, yet little research exists to inform this debate.

John F. Kelly, Ph.D., associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Center for addiction Medicine, notes that the World Health Organization declared the term “abuser” as stigmatizing three decades ago, but the term is still commonly used to describe people with addictions to illicit drugs.

Kelly recently took part in a scientific study to determine whether or not using different  labels evokes different judgments about behavioral self-regulation, social threat, and treatment vs. punishment. In the study, Kelly and colleagues surveyed more than 700 mental-health professionals attending a conference on addiction and mental illness. Half of the a survey referred to a hypothetical patient as a “substance abuser,” while the rest received a survey referring to the patient as having a “substance use disorder.” The surveys were otherwise identical.

The study found no differences between groups on the social threat or victim-treatment sub-scales. However, respondents who received the “substance abuser” version were more likely to say that the patient should be punished for failing to follow a treatment plan and to agree that the patient shouldered blame for having trouble complying with court-ordered treatment requirements.

The study concluded that even among highly trained mental health professionals, exposure to these two commonly used terms evokes systematically different judgments. The commonly used “substance abuser” term may indeed perpetuate stigmatizing attitudes. Whether individuals or mental-health professionals are conscious of it or not, this study suggests that this term perpetuates that kind of thinking.

According to Kelly, “From the perspective of the individual sufferers, who often feel intense self-loathing and self-blame, such terminology may add to the feelings that prevent them from seeking help.”

So, in our own recovery, how we identify ourselves may matter. If we choose, or have forced on us, terms like “alcoholic” or “drug abuser,” we may be buying into a negative stigma. If we choose to use a more technically accurate identifier, such as having a “substance use disorder,” we may be able to break free of old stigmas. We are then better able to focus on our own empowered recovery, without all that stigma.

The study was published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.