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Chapter 5 - Substance Use Disorders, Stigma, and Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2022

By
Laura Williamson
Edited by
Georg Schomerus  and
Patrick William Corrigan
Georg Schomerus
Affiliation:
Universität Leipzig
Patrick William Corrigan
Affiliation:
Illinois Institute of Technology
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Summary

Significant issues influencing the stigmatization of substance use disorders (SUDs), like the assessment of responsibility and need for respectful relationships, involve ethical concerns. Despite this, much civic and professional debate on the topic is poorly equipped to make sound ethical judgments. This predicament is influenced by a number of obstacles. Firstly, the medical or disease model that often dominates debates in the field is characterized by a reductive science focus. This does not embrace the idea that ethical debate has an important role to play in addressing stigma. Secondly, traditional bioethics tends to be individually focused and so overlooks the social and relational issues that require attention when seeking to support recovery from a biopsychosocial condition like SUDs. After assessing these challenges, it is argued that increasing ethics literacy, as part of a broader interdisciplinary response to the stigmatization of SUDs, is critical to impact meaningfully on civic and professional debates.

Keywords

StigmaSubstance Use DisorderAddictionBioethicsPublic Health
Type
Chapter
Information
The Stigma of Substance Use Disorders , pp. 68 - 87
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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