Analysis and Summary: Alcohol and Drug Stigma Article Report

This report provides a comprehensive summary of an article titled 'Alcohol and Other Drugs: Stigma,' which examines the societal stigma associated with alcohol and drug use. The article highlights the negative impacts of stigma on individuals' health, wellbeing, employment, and social outcomes, emphasizing that stigma is a complex social phenomenon leading to disapproval and discrimination. It details various types of stigma, including social, self, and structural stigma, and discusses their causes and consequences, such as social segregation and self-isolation. The report also outlines potential approaches to reduce stigma, focusing on knowledge development, attitude and behavior change, and environmental changes through laws and social norms. It underscores the importance of open conversations and understanding to mitigate the negative effects of stigma and improve social attitudes towards individuals using alcohol or drugs, ultimately aiming for positive health outcomes.

Running head: SUMMARY OF ARTICLE
SUMMARY OF ARTICLE:
ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS: STIGMA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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SUMMARY OF ARTICLE
‘Alcohol and Other Drugs: Stigma’ is the article about the stigma of the society towards
the people who use alcohol and other drugs. The article states different issues regarding the
stigma and the impact of the thought process of other people towards the people consuming
alcohol or other drugs. In the following section the summary of the article would be presented.
Summary
Social stigma towards the people using alcohol or other drugs would be a concern as it
affects the health, wellbeing and social outcomes including employment of these people. A
complex feeling and subsequently the disapproval of people can be termed as stigma and this is a
factor that impacts over the life, health and wellbeing of the people consuming alcohol or drug.
The article also describes the stigma in details as it highlights stigma as a social process of
disapproval of a person with different trait or belief or practice (adf.org.au, 2019). It has been
seen that the stigma matters as it leads to the less acceptance, inequities in the society and health
sector and develops negative health outcome as well (McCann et al., 2018). It has also been
described that the alcohol and drug users are treated in the society in a drastic way that has
negative impact higher than the people with other health conditions including mental illness.
There are different types of stigma present such as social stigma, self stigma and structural
stigma. Social stigma leads to stereotypic thought process and unequal treatment, self stigma
develops shame and structural stigma focuses on discriminative la development. Ignorance,
prejudice and discrimination are the primary cause for the stigma development. Social stigma
develops social segregation; structural stigma develops intentional restriction towards the people,
who use drugs and alcohol; self stigma develops fear of different treatment from others and
eventually social isolation takes place; finally, family and friends stigmatise the people who use
drug or alcohol in a way that degrades relationships as well and internal family issues (Pienaar et

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SUMMARY OF ARTICLE
al., 2017). Based on all these aspects the article states some different approaches that can reduce
the stigma and negative impacts of stigma over the people consuming alcohol or drugs. The
approach incorporates the factors of knowledge develop which leads to attitude and behaviour
change and eventually environmental change that is laws and social norms changing. For
knowledge development research, identification of diverse stigmas and understanding will be
required. These factors strength in training and workforce in the health sector and eventually
promotes healthy behaviour that is reducing the addiction towards alcohol or drugs. Hence, the
structural stigma can be reduced effectively. The article also highlights that the conversation for
the understanding about the negligence, prejudice and discriminative behaviour towards the
people consuming drugs or alcohol would be required with priority. This process can reduce the
negative impacts of the stigma and eventually the social approach towards the people using
alcohol or drugs. It can also be stated that the structural stigma can be reduced effectively which
can lead to the positive health outcome obtaining for the target population (Lancaster, Seear &
Ritter, 2018).

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SUMMARY OF ARTICLE
References
adf.org.au, (2019). Alcohol and other drugs: Stigma, A background paper. Retrieved 9 February
2020, from https://adf.org.au/
Lancaster, K., Seear, K., & Ritter, A. (2018). MONOGRAPH 26 REDUCING STIGMA AND
DISCRIMINATION FOR PEOPLE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMATIC ALCOHOL
AND OTHER DRUG USE.
McCann, T. V., Savic, M., Ferguson, N., Cheetham, A., Witt, K., Emond, K., ... & Lubman, D. I.
(2018). Recognition of, and attitudes towards, people with depression and psychosis
with/without alcohol and other drug problems: results from a national survey of
Australian paramedics. BMJ open, 8(12).
Pienaar, K., Dilkes-Frayne, E., Fraser, S., Kokanovic, R., Moore, D., Treloar, C., & Dunlop, A.
(2017). Experiences of alcohol and other drug addiction, dependence or habit in
Australia.
adf.org.au