During one of my weekly radio broadcasts on drug addiction and recovery, the subject of “stigma” cropped up and, as this is a subject which distorts many efforts to sensibly help addicts to full recovery, you might like to consider how stigma effects public attitudes towards addicts and thus also Whitehall drug policies.
STIGMA IS IN MANY WAYS THE INSULT THE IGNORANT IMPOSE UPON BOTH THE EXISTING AND THE RECOVERED ADDICT.
Social “stigma” is severe communal disapproval of personal characteristics, beliefs or practices against cultural norms, such disapproval stifling a victim’s forward progress in life – including especially recovery of former standing – which is somewhat illogical when that recovery would benefit the whole society.
AND TO STIGMATISE ADDICTS AND ESPECIALLY RECOVERED ADDICTS demonstrates a gross mis-comprehension of the whole subject of addiction and life in general.
Whether we like it or not, LIFE is inescapably, unavoidably, obviously and provably a “DO-IT-FOR-YOURSELF” activity, and as a result, quitting drug or alcohol usage is ALSO a do-it-for-yourself decision and activity.
An individual who started to use an addictive substance to resolve a situation which HE HIMSELF considered to be a problem (i.e. something restricting his personal enjoyment of his idea of survival) is going to find it a lot harder to quit than it was to start.
Talk to addicts, and you find that – in every single case – he or she started into addiction in order to solve a situation which they considered to be a personal problem !
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In coming to that decision he or she was after all trying to take responsibility for handling some undesirable situation in his or her own life.
So why is that a reason to stigmatise an individual ?
All they did in their anxious search for an answer to their very own personal problem was to choose a wrong solution – something politicians, doctors, solicitors, other professionals and all of us do on numerous occasions – most often because they have been fed false data on the subject.
And what about “the recovered addict” – the individual who is no longer using an addictive substance? The person who has gritted his or her physical and mental teeth and in one way or another confronted the often horrendous cold turkey effects of withdrawal from drug or alcohol addiction, and has thus become totally abstinent.
How should they be regarded by society ?
It is interesting that a majority of properly recovered former addicts become self-employed, and the main reason for this is because employers who have hired addicts “still in treatment” or “recovering addicts” have too often been let down as, when and if that supposedly “former” addict starts using again, and so won’t employ any other said-to-be former addicts.
The factor which tells a prospective employer that a job applicant might be a former addict is the hole or holes in his or her education and / or employment record.
But the truth is that a former addict who has achieved his or her lasting relaxed abstinent status by training in self-help addiction recovery techniques – which they have then applied to themselves – is usually the most loyal, hard-working and stable employee any boss would ever want to engage.
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And here are some of the main attributes of such a properly trained Do-It-For-Yourself individual:
i) Since commencing a ‘training for recovery’ programme he or she will not have used his or her original addictive substance(s) for a period of not less than 12 months,
ii ) They remain fully convinced that they will comfortably abstain for life,
iii) They will not have replaced such earlier usage with another addictive substance, (methadone, alcohol or Subutex, etc.),
iv) They will now be taking responsibility for their own lives and families,
v) They will be found to be no longer needing or wanting further rehabilitative support, with no need of a medical or police “minder” and,
vi) They will now also be taking responsibility for, and be contributing to, his or her community.
Renewed zest for living, certainty of self and an understanding of life’s pitfalls characterise a recovery trained former addict.
They are individuals who know what is meant by “a drug-free society”, and who will also normally do something about procuring that title for their own local community.
Arising from this, rather than stigma and a refusal to employ former addicts, EMPLOYERS NEED TO BE EDUCATED into the strengths and values of an addict who has gone through the torture of fighting their way THROUGH and OFF addiction.
Any properly trained self-helped addict who has recovered that former natural state should be praised and welcomed.
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This does not however apply to someone who describes his current condition as “IN RECOVERY”, because this is an incomplete cycle of action and is that state which has brought former addicts into disrepute with a reputation for instability.
A 12 Steps participant, whose own rehabilitation system regards him as “In Recovery” for life, still needs training in addiction recovery techniques order to achieve a LASTING return to the natural state of relaxed abstinence into which they were born – especially as in most cases the individual still has a body which, to a greater or lesser degree is saturated with drug metabolites and toxins which can create “flashbacks” and prompt a return to drug usage.
With the world renowned “Purification Run Down” these can of course be eliminated, and if you would like to know more on a cost free confidential basis, ring 01342 810151.
You will find yourself talking to Addiction Recovery Training Services, a Sussex based not-for-profit community support group formed in 1975 – and you don’t even have to give your name.
Recovery starts with: a Lasting Return to the Natural State of
Relaxed Abstinence into which 99% of the Population is Born