Q. Would You Attribute Societies Stigmas As A Motivator To The Addict’s Denial?
A. Society’s’ stigma does affect the addict because it reinforces the shame in getting help. They are ashamed to walk in and out of a clinic or in and out of a rehab. And you know it is funny because people are ashamed to tell people that they are in recovery but they get drunk, they get high and everybody knows it, but that is less of a problem then the fact that the went to get help. By asking for help or admitting that they need help the alcoholic is essentially proving the stigmas true.
They can’t do it on their own, see they are weak, they are not a man, and they are not a decent good woman. When in fact there is nothing more courageous than admitting you have a problem and doing something about it and it is society that warps that thinking. We call it society, who is making all these false truths and placing these stigmas on addicts and alcoholics yet whenever someone announces, “I’m in recovery” all you hear is cheers.
So the reality is that society is actually supporting the addict and alcoholic, it is the addict’s false assumption of society that is a problem. Maybe some alcoholics though like that problem. It lets them stay in the problem and feel sorry for themselves.
If the addict believes, and many of them do that they have this problem and the world hates them for it they will, keep self medicating and keep hiding from the problem and keep hiding from admitting that they have a problem. If the addict was really desperate for people to approve of them and desperate to be like, they would admit they have a problem because in the last, I don’t know, 20 years or so society has shown a tremendous amount of love and support for people who overcome their problems. So, yes the stigmas motivate the addicts denial but, sometimes to a much larger extent the denial reinforces the stigma.
