Preventing and Reducing Stigma: Prevention

Why Does it Matter?

According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 8 out of 10 people with a mental health condition reported experiencing shame and stigma that prevented them from seeking treatment.

Stigma can be defined as an attribute, behavior, or condition that socially discredits an individual or populations. Stigma influences the health outcomes and well-being of individuals with SUD/mental illness.

Prevention practitioners are in a unique position to reduce the stigma surrounding SUD/mental illness. Language used as part of prevention messaging, or informally, in conversations with colleagues and stakeholders, can increase or decrease stigma. Prevention practitioners work across the continuum of care and can influence and train professionals working in behavioral health and human services settings.

What Is the Impact?

Stigma can affect disclosure of traumatic experiences or suicidality. Fear of stigma may cause a person to suppress thoughts and feelings about trauma.
Internalized stigma can increase the risk of substance use and substance use disorders.
Stigma affects a person’s sense of belonging to a community or group, which may increase risk of comorbidities and mortality for people with SUD/mental health disorders.
Stigma affects access to care, especially for underserved populations seeking culturally and linguistically appropriate services.

What Can We Do?

Use terms such as “substance use disorder” (SUD) instead of “drug abuse” to reduce stigma and increase help-seeking behaviors.
Employ pro-health messaging. For example, prevention messages highlighting the self-efficacy of people with SUDs to use naloxone to reverse opioid overdose tackles the stigma of people with SUD as selfish and lazy.
Engage community stakeholders in discussion on how stigma affects mental health and SUD.
Support and enhance individual coping strategies for people in stigmatized groups.
Implement interventions that change laws and policies that enhance stigma around mental illness and SUD.
Promote prevention educational strategies that support stigmatized groups on making healthier decisions.

Resources:

Preventing and Reducing Stigma:Prevention
https://pttcnetwork.org/centers/great-lakes-pttc/preventing-and-reducing-stigma-prevention

Online Learning: Addressing Stigma and Substance Use Disorders: A HealtheKnowledge Course
https://attcnetwork.org/centers/mountain-plains-attc/product/addressing-stigma-and-substance-use-disorders-healtheknowledge

Web page: Great Lakes PTTC, Preventing and Reducing Stigma
https://pttcnetwork.org/centers/great-lakes-pttc/preventing-and-reducing-stigma

Podcast: Spotlight on Stigma Series: First Responders:
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/greatlakescurrent/episodes/Spotlight-on-Stigma-Episode-1-The-Role-of-First-Responders-emuehr

References

Barry, C. L., McGinty, E. E., Pescosolido, B. A., & Goldman, H. H. (2014). Stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness, and policy: public views about

drug addiction and mental illness. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 65(10), 1269–1272. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400140

Bishop, L. S., Benz, M. B., & Palm Reed, K. M. (2017). The impact of trauma experiences on posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder

symptom severity in a treatment-seeking sample. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 48(6), 490.

Dahlem, C. H. G., King, L., Anderson, G., Marr, A., Waddell, J. E., & Scalera, M. (2017) Beyond rescue: Implementation and evaluation of revised

naloxone training for law enforcement officers. Public Health Nursing, 34(6), 516-521. doi:10.1111/phn.12365

Hassell, K. D. (2020). The impact of Crisis Intervention Team Training for police. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 22(2), 159-170.

Kulesza, M., Matsuda, M., Ramirez, J. J., Werntz, A. J., Teachman, B. A., & Lindgren, K. P. (2016). Towards greater understanding of addiction stigma:

Intersectionality with race/ethnicity and gender. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 169, 85-91.

Lattimore, Pamela & Broner, Nahama & Sherman, Richard & Frisman, Linda & Shafer, Michael. (2003). A Comparison of Prebooking and Postbooking

Diversion Programs for Mentally Ill Substance-Using Individuals With Justice Involvement. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. 19. 30-64.

10.1177/1043986202239741.

Krameddine, Y. I., Demarco, D., Hassel, R., & Silverstone, P. H. (2013). A Novel Training Program for Police Officers that Improves Interactions with

Mentally Ill Individuals and is Cost-Effective. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 4, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00009

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2016. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and SUDs: The Evidence for Stigma

Change. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/23442.

Silverstone, P. H., Krameddine, Y. I., DeMarco, D., & Hassel, R. (2013). A novel approach to training police officers to interact with individuals who may

have a psychiatric disorder. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 41(3), 344–355.

Watson, A. C., Corrigan, P. W., & Ottati, V. (2004). Police officers’ attitudes toward and decisions about persons with mental illness. Psychiatric Services

(Washington, D.C.), 55(1), 49–53. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.55.1.49

Winograd, R. P., Werner, K. B., Green, L., Phillips, S., Armbruster, J., & Paul, R. (2019). Concerns that an opioid antidote could “make things worse”:

Profiles of risk compensation beliefs using the Naloxone-Related Risk Compensation Beliefs (NaRRC-B) scale. Substance Abuse, 1-7.

doi:10.1080/08897077.2019.1616348

Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network

December 2020