Psychological distress, alcohol and language misuse

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The current paper offers a summary of the problems associated with the language used to refer to individuals who simultaneously seek support for psychological distress and alcohol use.

Context

Healthcare services frequently adopt language that perpetuates stigma, obstacles to services and can constrain psychological conceptualizations of experiences which hinders person-centered care. An overview of the challenges associated with the conflicting discourse between mental health and alcohol recovery services are presented, alongside a consideration of the impact of adopting biomedical discourse and the use of stigmatizing language.

Recommendations

The paper outlines a number of recommendations, including: the displacement of the term “alcohol misuse”; the promotion of an emphasis on individual’s idiographic experiences; the advocation of a greater sensitivity to non-stigmatizing language use and the call for a shared language that can be successfully employed within integrated services.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol use
• alcohol misuse
• strength-based adaptation
• stigma
• self-medication

Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Notes

1. For a review of the terms used see Lee, D. (in press). Mental Health Problems Associated with Alcohol. In D. B. Cooper (Eds.), Alcohol Use: Assessment, Withdrawal Management and Treatment: ethical practice in hospital and home. Springer.

2. For more information of alcohol use terminology used in the UK, see the glossary compiled by NICE (2010). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ph24/chapter/7-Glossary

3. The serial treatment model – one treatment follows the other but are not offered simultaneously.’/ The parallel treatment model – treatments are given concurrently by the participating clinical teams.’ (Edeh, 2002p. 205)

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.