Public Stigma Toward People With Drug Addiction: A Factorial Survey

Sattler, Sebastian; Escande, Alice; Racine, Éric; Göritz, Anja S.

doi:10.15288/jsad.2017.78.415

Cited by 84 publications

(126 citation statements)

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“…On the contrary, if a health condition is perceived as caused by a genetic abnormality, then the cause is seen as outside of that person's control and therefore the individual is not seen as responsible for the situation and “blame” would be an inappropriate response toward such a person. This effect has been unraveled in several studies (Corrigan et al, 2003 ; Dietrich et al, 2006 ; Sattler et al, 2017 ). On the other hand, and in spite of being common, the idea that biological information reduces attribution of free will, and thus diminishes certain types of stigma, remains contested with several studies reporting results to the contrary (Walker and Read, 2002 ; Phelan, 2005 ; Dietrich et al, 2006 ; Pescosolido, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Free Will and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction: The Not So Seductive Allure of Neuroscience and Its Modest Impact on the Attribution of Free Will to People with an Addiction

2017

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Free will has been the object of debate in the context of addiction given that addiction could compromise an individual's ability to choose freely between alternative courses of action. Proponents of the brain-disease model of addiction have argued that a neuroscience perspective on addiction reduces the attribution of free will because it relocates the cause of the disorder to the brain rather than to the person, thereby diminishing the blame attributed to the person with an addiction. Others have worried that such displacement of free will attribution would make the person with a drug addiction less responsible. Using the paradigmatic literature on the seductive allure of neuroscience explanations, we tested whether neuroscience information diminishes attributions of free will in the context of addiction and whether respondent characteristics influence these attributions and modulate the effect of neuroscience information. We performed a large-scale, web-based experiment with 2,378 German participants to explore how attributions of free will in the context of addiction to either alcohol or cocaine are affected by: (1) a text with a neurobiological explanation of addiction, (2) a neuroimage showing effects of addiction on the brain, and (3) a combination of a text and a neuroimage, in comparison to a control group that received no information. Belief in free will was measured using the FAD-Plus scale and was, subsequent to factor analysis, separated into two factors: responsibility and volition. The investigated respondent characteristics included gender, age, education, self-reported knowledge of neuroscience, substance-use disorder (SUD), and having a friend with SUD. We found that attributions of volition (in the cocaine-subsample) were reduced in the text and neuroimage-treatment compared to the control group. However, respondent characteristics such as education and self-reported knowledge of neuroscience were associated with lower attributions of responsibility for both substances, and education was associated with lower attribution of volition for the alcohol sub-sample. Interaction analyses showed that knowledge of neuroscience was found to generally decrease attribution of responsibility. Further research on attribution of free will should consider the effects of context and respondent characteristics, which appeared surprisingly larger than those induced by experimental treatments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Free Will and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction: The Not So Seductive Allure of Neuroscience and Its Modest Impact on the Attribution of Free Will to People with an Addiction

2017

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“…151,152 Furthermore, the effect of discourses on biological, individual, and social causes of addiction is potentially a cause of stigmatization. 153,154,155 Other strategies that are more sensitive to the relational self could call for reformulations on how we view the role of agents within situations, and how we view the impact of socially-created situations (e.g., poverty, unemployment) on voluntariness in the context of addiction. 156 There is now clear evidence showing, for example, how level of education (higher education) leads to psychological profiles where autonomous choice, self-control, are not only present but valued.…”

Section: Challenge 5: Connections To Broader Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addiction and Voluntariness: Five “Challenges” to Address in Moving the Discussion Forward

Racine¹,

Barned²

2019

Camb Q Healthc Ethics

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Abstract:The question as to whether people with an addiction have control (and to what extent) over their addiction, and voluntarily decide to use substances is an ongoing source of controversy in the context of research on addiction, health policy and clinical practice. We describe and discuss a set of five challenges for further research into voluntariness (definition[s], measurement and study tools, first person perspectives, contextual understandings, and connections to broader frameworks) based on our own research experiences and those of others.

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“…offending, unemployment and claiming welfare) on how substance users are treated is an important area of future research, as is research exploring how substance users negotiate and experience such socio-cultural constructions (Wincup & Monaghan, 2016). For example, previous studies of stigmatising attitudes towards substance users by both the general public and healthcare professionals have shown that they are influenced by several factors, including represented characteristics of the stigmatised person, and whether the affected person is viewed to be abstinent or not (Rao et al, 2009;Sattler et al, 2017).…”

Section: Private Residential Treatment As Best Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Neo-liberal discourse of substance use in the UK reality TV show, The Jeremy Kyle Show

Atkinson

Sumnall

2018

Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy

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This article presents findings of a content and thematic analysis of representations of substance use and users in the UK Reality Television programme, The Jeremy Kyle Show. It provides evidence that substance use and users were problematized through the process of 'othering' which contributed to a reductionist drugs discourse. We argue that such discourse can be understood within the wider socioeconomic political context of neoliberalism. Four intertwined themes revealed underlying neo-liberal notions that reduced substance use and users to a number of characteristics and associated issues, and provided a narrow and skewed representation of use and users. Through framing substance use as a rational choice, users were held fully responsible and blamed for their substance use, resulting problems, and failure of treatment. Substance use was associated with unemployment and dependency on state welfare, with those claiming welfare being deemed accountable for their lack of employment and shamed for their failure to meet the neoliberal notion of the productive citizen. Structural causes of substance use and inequality were silenced, and an emphasis on individual responsibility prioritised, which may lead to the reinforcement of stigma, and societal and institutional interventions being overlooked. Users were also encouraged to repair a 'lost' sense of self through abstinence within private inpatient treatment, endorsing the neo-liberal notion of private health care and prioritising abstinence-based responses and individual responsibility in treatment success. Implications for public perceptions of substance use, users and suitable responses, and substance users' perceptions of themselves, are considered.

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Public Stigma Toward People With Drug Addiction: A Factorial Survey

Cited by 84 publications

References 0 publications

Free Will and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction: The Not So Seductive Allure of Neuroscience and Its Modest Impact on the Attribution of Free Will to People with an Addiction

Free Will and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction: The Not So Seductive Allure of Neuroscience and Its Modest Impact on the Attribution of Free Will to People with an Addiction

Addiction and Voluntariness: Five “Challenges” to Address in Moving the Discussion Forward

Neo-liberal discourse of substance use in the UK reality TV show, The Jeremy Kyle Show

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