Kelly John F, Earnshaw Valerie
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS), University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
Transl Behav Med. 2021 May 25;11(5):1160-1161. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaa117.
Evidence demonstrates that exposure to the terms "abuse" and "substance abuser" increases stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes toward individuals suffering from drug and alcohol problems, ultimately leading to suboptimal clinical care delivery and poorer treatment outcomes. The American Psychiatric Association has dropped the term "abuse" from its diagnostic terminology; therefore, the term provides no advantage in terms of clinical precision or public health communication. Although numerous medical and public health associations have advocated against the term "abuse," it remains embedded in the very titles of our major federal institutions and administrations whose explicit mission is to alleviate these endemic problems. Congress must act to change the names of the National Institutes of Health on addiction (i.e., NIAAA, NIDA) and related federal institutions (SAMHSA, CSAT). The Society of Behavioral Medicine supports the removal of the term "abuse" from the National Institutes of Health and related federal administrations pertaining to addiction and replacement with more neutral and nonstigmatizing terminology (e.g., disorder). Alternative names for the federal organizations that SBM supports are the "National Institute on Alcohol Use Disorder," the "National Institute on Drug Use Disorders," the "Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services Administration," and the "Center for Substance Use Disorder Treatment."
有证据表明，接触“滥用”和“药物滥用者”等术语会增加对患有药物和酒精问题的个人的污名化和歧视态度，最终导致临床护理服务欠佳和治疗效果较差。美国精神病学协会已从其诊断术语中删除了“滥用”一词；因此，该术语在临床精准度或公共卫生沟通方面并无优势。尽管众多医学和公共卫生协会都主张反对使用“滥用”一词，但它仍存在于我们主要联邦机构和行政部门的名称中，而这些机构和部门的明确使命是缓解这些普遍存在的问题。国会必须采取行动，更改国立卫生研究院下属的成瘾研究所（即美国国立酒精滥用与酒精中毒研究所、美国国立药物滥用研究所）以及相关联邦机构（美国药物滥用和精神健康服务管理局、药物滥用治疗中心）的名称。行为医学协会支持从国立卫生研究院及与成瘾相关的联邦行政部门的名称中删除“滥用”一词，并用更中立且无污名化的术语（如“障碍”）取而代之。行为医学协会支持的联邦组织的替代名称分别为“国立酒精使用障碍研究所”、“国立药物使用障碍研究所”、“物质使用障碍与精神健康服务管理局”以及“物质使用障碍治疗中心”。
