Post
110
WORDS
MATTER!
to mask
or not to mask
to stigmatize or to bring hope
My favorite elementary school holiday was Halloween. Why??
At lunch time, we would leave school – as our own selves - go home to eat, and then return to school as a completely different person/character/animal or
thing. We were to sit at any desk we
desired – especially not our own! That was the best part of the afternoon for
me … my last name at the end of the alphabet no longer dictated a seat at
the back of the classroom – for once!
Then too, there was something liberating about
being someone (or thing) other than ourselves.
For a short time (before the guess-who-this-is contest), we were,
somehow, on a different planet; and there was a quasi-sense of equality among
us. Words and names do matter!
Recently, I have heard much about how words do matter … the choice of wording does,
indeed, have power! For worse, one can minimalize, magnetize, or characterize; however,
for better, one can maximize care and
understanding … and help others to realize, more clearly, the reality of
conditions and actions taken.
The following is a list of contrasting terms – realistic and understanding as
compared to inaccurate and/or demeaning.
· Person
in active addiction or person with a gambling disorder
not
addict,
junkie, user, degenerate, addicted gambler, hopeless ____
· Substance
use disorder
not
habit (minimizes / ignores the
medical nature of the condition)
· Dependence,
dependent
not
abuse
· Addiction
free,
substance free, or in remission
not
clean, sober
(clean may imply that the person active-in-addiction is dirty)
· Person
in long-term recovery, person in recovery, non-smoker
not
ex-addict, former-smoker, ex-drug addict
· Medication-assisted
treatment, treatment
not
on-methadone,
Suboxone addict, replacement addiction
· Recurrence,
resumed
not
lapse, relapse, slip
Once more, let us remember:
the choice of wording does matter –
words
can help and convey hope
but
stigma
hurts and destroys.
Blessings,
Rev. Janet Jacobs,
CCGSO
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery
Ministries
For
more information on problem gambling and recovery issues, visit:
www.indianaproblemgambling.org 
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