Recovery & Support
Stigma & Language
Someone you know is facing a substance use disorder right now. How we talk about substance use in everyday life affects how likely that person is to seek help and stay with it. Adjusting our language is one of the simplest ways any of us can support each other — no training required, no cost, effective immediately. This page covers what to say, what to retire, and why it genuinely matters. Nobody here is grading you.
The short version
Why it matters (measurably)
This isn’t about politeness or scoring points. Research has shown that language changes outcomes: in studies, even trained clinicians judged the same person more punitively when described as a “substance abuser” versus “a person with a substance use disorder.” Same facts, different words, different treatment.
Now scale that to a kitchen table. A person deciding whether to tell their family is doing math about shame — and every “junkie” and “addict” they’ve heard at that table is in the equation. Change the words, change the math, change whether they say the sentence that starts recovery.
