COSIG CONFERENCE BROCHURE.pdf - Drexel University College ...

COSIG Co-Occurring Disorders Conference, Hershey PA, May 15-17, 2006
What has the power to:
• Isolate individuals and families;
• Encourage people to deny a fatal illness and
ignore its symptoms;
• Keep desperately ill people from seeking help;
• Block funding for treatment for all but a small
fraction of those who need it; and
• Persuade society to choose far more expensive
alternatives – like imprisonment, costs of
accidents and secondary illnesses, and loss of
human lives, productivity, and potential?
Answer: STIGMA
• The deep and sometimes hidden belief
that addiction is something shameful and
that people with addictions are somehow
weak willed or morally inferior.
What is stigma?
• Erving Goffman, a sociologist well-known
for his analyses of human interaction and
traditionally the best-respected authority
on the subject of stigma, defined stigma
as:
“an attribute that is deeply discrediting” and
described the stigmatized individual as a
“discredited person facing an unaccepting
world”. (1963).
Stigma
• something that detracts from the
character or reputation of a person, group,
etc.; mark of disgrace or reproach
• a mark, sign, etc. indicating that
something is not considered normal or
standard
• any sign characteristic of a specific
disease
Stigma and Addiction
• Because of shame, stigma feeds into the
forces of isolation and denial that push
people deeper into the addictive process
and farther away from recovery.
• Social justification of the stigma pushes
the medical response to punishment of the
addiction.
Stigma Exists
• Stigma is deep rooted in society.
• Has profound effect on ability to help
people find and hold onto recovery.
• The first step is finding a deeper
knowledge that the problem exists and a
broader awareness of all the ways in
which it shows itself.
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