The stigma of the recovery experience
Recovery involves
transcending the stigma that has been attached to addiction and/or
mental illness. Stigma within the
larger culture creates conceptual (how one sees oneself) and concrete
(discrimination resulting from how one is seen by others) barriers
to recovery. Stigma-shaped
practices within treatment systems have also served to depersonalize
and dehumanize. Confronting and exorcising stigma within oneself (self-healing)
and within one's environment (political advocacy) are frequent dimensions
of the recovery process.
