In 2010, researchers John Kelly and Cassandra Westerhoff ran a simple experiment. They gave mental-health clinicians a short description of a man in legal trouble related to drug use. The description was identical for everyone except for one phrase: half read that he was a "substance abuser," half that he "has a substance use disorder."
The clinicians who read "substance abuser" were more likely to see him as personally to blame and more likely to agree that punishment was warranted. These weren't casual observers. They were trained professionals, and a single phrase moved their judgment. If words do that to experts, imagine what they do to employers, judges, family members — and to the person hearing them about themselves.
This isn't about policing anyone's vocabulary, and people in recovery have every right to describe themselves however they choose. It's about noticing that language carries a theory with it. "Addict" and "junkie" imply that a person is their problem. "Person with a substance use disorder" implies they have a condition that can change. The words you use about yourself, especially in your own head, are worth choosing on purpose.
✦ Quote
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
— Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921), 5.6
◎ Prompt
Listen for the words you use about yourself today — out loud and inside your head. Write down the harshest one. Then write the most accurate description you can of the same thing, without the verdict.
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