Dataset Information

Recovery dialects: A pilot study of stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing label use by individuals in recovery from substance use disorders.

ABSTRACT: Previous research has found language used to describe individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD; e.g., "addict," "substance abuser") contributes to and elicits negative bias among the general public and health care professionals. However, the prevalence in which recovering individuals use these labels to self-identify and the impact of such labels are unknown. The current pilot study, a cross-sectional design, examined the usage of two labels ("addict," "person with a SUD") as well as the differences in recovery outcomes among individuals in recovery. Participants (n = 54) used both labels at high rates ("addict": 66.67%; "person with a SUD": 38.89%), though mutually exclusive use was lower ("addict" only: 35.19%, "person with a SUD" only: 7.5%). Common label use settings included mutual-aid recovery meetings, with friends and family, and on social media. Analysis of variance tests found no statistically significant differences between label groups for recovery capital, self-esteem, internalized stigma and shame, flourishing, or length in recovery. Descriptively, participants using only "person with a SUD" had more positive outcomes, although these individuals also had higher levels of internalized shame. Results suggest that language may have only a marginal impact on individuals in recovery, although professionals and the general public should continue to avoid using stigmatizing labels. Additionally, many individuals in recovery have the ability to discern context and setting, switching between positive and negative labels as appropriate. Future research is warranted given these pilot findings and should focus on long-term impacts of self-labeling and internalized stereotypes among individuals in recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

SUBMITTER: Ashford RD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7478190 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Recovery dialects: A pilot study of stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing label use by individuals in recovery from substance use disorders.

Ashford Robert D RD Brown Austin M AM Ashford Arielle A Curtis Brenda B

Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology 20190418 6

Previous research has found language used to describe individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD; e.g., "addict," "substance abuser") contributes to and elicits negative bias among the general public and health care professionals. However, the prevalence in which recovering individuals use these labels to self-identify and the impact of such labels are unknown. The current pilot study, a cross-sectional design, examined the usage of two labels ("addict," "person with a SUD") as well as the d ...[more]

PMID: 30998055

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Project description:Background: It has been hypothesized that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) share common neurobiological features. When abnormalities in the mesolimbic reward system are characteristic of children with ADHD, it is unclear whether youth at particularly elevated risk for SUD may exhibit any further disturbances. The objective of this pilot study is to examine possible neurobiological differences among youth with different levels of SUD risk before exposure to any abusable substances. Methods: We recruited 47 drug-naive children aged 8-13 divided into (1) Low Risk (LR)-ADHD only (n = 16); (2) High Risk (HR)-ADHD+familial SUD (n = 17); and (3) healthy controls (HC, n = 14) who underwent one functional magnetic resonance imaging scan while performing a hybrid task. We used the omnibus analysis of covariance model to assess for group differences in brain activation in regions linked to the brain reward and behavioral control systems. Results: Behavioral analysis showed significant Cue and Flanker main effects, but no significant main effect for Group. Whole-brain analysis showed significant differences in widely distributed networks related to both reward processing and behavioral control. Region of interest (ROI) activations showed that the HR group had the highest activation in the right putamen during both expected rewards and unexpected nonreward outcomes and in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during unexpected nonreward outcomes, while LR and HC youth showed similarly low activation during these contrasts. Furthermore, the LR and HR groups showed lower activation than HC in the right ACC and the right caudate during flanker contrasts. Conclusions: These are the first preliminary results to demonstrate that the magnitude of activation during reward notification differs as a function of reward outcome in youth at high versus LR for SUD, such that youth at LR for SUD exhibit the highest activation for positive rewards, whereas those at HR for SUD exhibit the highest activation during negative rewards.

Project description:Sustained remission from substance use disorder (SUD) is challenged by high relapse rates, which provides opportunities for novel clinical interventions. Immersive virtual reality (VR) permits delivering synthetic experiences that feel real and actualizes otherwise impossible scenarios for therapeutic benefit. We report on the feasibility of an immersive VR intervention designed to increase valuation of the future by enhancing future self-continuity and leveraging future self-discrepancy with personalized future selves as SUD recovery support. Twenty-one adults in early SUD recovery (< 1 year) interacted with versions of themselves age-progressed fifteen years from two different behavioral trajectories: an SUD Future Self and a Recovery Future Self. The future selves' interactive monologs include personalized details and voice for a lifelike interaction within a time travel vignette. Before and following the intervention, participants rated future self-continuity and performed delay discounting. Following the intervention, daily images of the Recovery Future Self were sent to participants' smartphones for thirty days. The VR intervention generated no adverse events, was well tolerated (presence, liking, and comfort), and significantly increased future self-continuity and delayed reward preference (doubling delay tolerance). The intervention also reduced craving, ps < 0.05. Thirty days later, n = 18 remained abstinent; importantly, increased future self-similarity persisted. Abstainers' future self-similarity increased following VR. All individual participants showing increased future self-similarity post-VR remained abstinent, and all participants who relapsed showed either reduced or zero effect on future self-similarity. Post-intervention semi-structured interviews revealed emotional engagement with the experience. VR simulation of imagined realities reifies novel clinical interventions that are practicable and personalized. The current study demonstrates an implementation readily applied in the clinic and shows promise for facilitating SUD recovery. Creative collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and VR developers has great potential to revolutionize mental health interventions and expand the range of tools for clinicians targeting SUD and other disorders.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44192-022-00022-1.

Dataset Information

Recovery dialects: A pilot study of stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing label use by individuals in recovery from substance use disorders.

Publications

Recovery dialects: A pilot study of stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing label use by individuals in recovery from substance use disorders.

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