Reducing Personal Shame and Stigma Helps With Recovery
Striving for self-forgiveness and resilience when dealing with addiction
By Mark S Gold
Published by Psychology Today on June 11, 2025
Key points
• Stigma reduction and addressing shame are critical to the willingness to receive treatment for addiction.
• Recovery isn’t linear; it requires flexibility, unwavering support, and persistence.
• Recovery isn’t just ending substance use—it’s also growing emotionally and developing a purpose-driven life.
• Slips and relapses are part of the disease, requiring forgiveness and, often, just trying again and again.
People struggling with substance use disorder (SUDs) are stigmatized in our society, which can impede their recovery. We cannot readily understand how they are thinking and why they are making the unhealthy choices they make. Alcoholics Anonymous advises us to separate the person from the disease. We might “hate the sin” or disapprove of harmful, self-defeating, and destructive drug use. But we love the sinner, maintain compassion and empathy, and want to help.
