If you follow the 5A Instagram you may have noticed the use of specific hashtags on our posts. This year, after having celebrated 50 years in service of substance abuse recovery, we decided it was time to change the conversation around addiction. Reducing the stigma in regards to addiction broadens access to recovery services. This is our goal. Reducing the stigma. Increasing access.

One particular hashtag you will find in our marketing materials and social media posts is #sudismentalhealth

What is SUD?

Substance Use Disorder is the clinical term for drug addiction. Why use SUD in place of calling it drug addiction? To reduce the stigma and associate it with mental health. Mental health is all a buzz on Tik Tok and social media and in society in general, especially after the tough year we all endured which was 2020. As a society, we are recognizing the importance of correctly identifying mental health issues.

According to Mayo Clinic – “Drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a disease that affects a person’s brain and behavior and leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal drug or medication. Substances such as alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine also are considered drugs.”

Why is this important?

By calling drug addiction what it is, a disease that affects a person’s brain, mental illness, we are removing the stigma that addiction is the fault or weakness of the person.

People seem to associate drug addiction with choice. “What if the person could just get it together,” we say. If they were stronger or had better morals. We see drug addicts as less than human in some cases especially when their addiction has them living on the streets.

Serious mental illness is defined as a person with diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders that cause serious functional impairment and substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

SUD is a mental health issue. Treatment for SUD is mental health treatment. #sudismentalhealth

Keep the conversation going. Message us here or on social media.