by Barbara Mulloy-Robbins
It had been suggested to me the I should “kick the crap” out of stigma and judgment in my blog in order to start a serious conversation. Here are some of my thoughts:
Stigma as it relates specifically to alcohol and drug dependence has to be one of the meanest and perhaps the most difficult aspects of mental illness and addiction. Unfortunately, those unenlightened perceptions are still out there; that addiction is a sign of moral weakness. It’s a disease, and all research and scientific evidence supports this finding to be indisputable.
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse writes that we even had the stigma of cancer at one point in time. She further states that there is still, (and this hard to believe) significant stigma with some of the mental diseases. But…the one thing that is lagging behind is addiction.
It would be my guess that it’s natural to form opinions and judge almost everything. We’re human beings who exercise critical thinking. However, I believe the answer to having to judge at all is to judge with compassion. It is, after all, the highest level of enlightenment!
Incidentally…it’s helpful to know that our judgments are rarely accurate!
A quote from Alan Cohen, a major player in the spiritual revolution:
“Judgment is the shroud that obscures pure vision.”
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