Recovery Language Matters

When we have any type of experience with substance use, whether it’s being in active use ourselves or hearing about it in the news, we develop a lexicon that we may not even realize is causing harm. Willingness to rethink the language we use to discuss recovery is a key quality that makes us the most prepared to support people we love and communicate compassionately. Let’s look at a few key examples.

Recovery ≠ Abstinence

Recovery is a term that is typically viewed as a state of abstinence following a period of excessive substance use. The truth is, recovery is not that simple.

Recovery is a spectrum along which anyone making any positive change is a part of. Whether moving from injecting unsafely to utilizing a syringe access program, or from active use to abstinence, we’re all on a journey and all positive momentum deserves recognition. Recovery looks different for everyone, but co-opting the term for abstinence-based recovery perpetuates the shame experienced by many in active use who are still making progress.

Poisoning vs Overdose

The identification of overdose as “poisoning” is not technically incorrect. Somewhere along the path between an original producer of illicit drugs to the street dealers, illicit drugs are being tainted with fentanyl, xylazine, medetomidine, and any number of other additives causing more severe overdose, dangerous withdrawal symptoms, and more. The fact of the matter, however, is that poisoning as a term is rarely applied equally to overdose.

The main thought behind many labeling an overdose as poisoning is that their loved one should not be viewed as a “junkie”, that it was something done to them rather than something they engaged in, and that their loved one was someone who truly did not deserve it. And it’s true, absolutely no one deserves this fate.

However, we cannot make a habit of differentiating overdose as a result of more chaotic use from overdose that is viewed as more accidental. Most overdose is unintentional, and what we’re discussing here is all unintentional. Even as someone at risk more infrequently, with a better reputation and support system, they were just as much a person who used illicit drugs as someone who engaged in use more frequently.

All forms of illicit drug use need to come with an understanding of the risks, and all people who experience unintentional overdose as a result of illicit drug use are undeserving of their fate. Until everyone’s experience is labeled a poisoning, it is harmful to draw a line in the sand between people who deserved it, who knew better, and people who didn’t.

Relapse as an Action Word

Relapse is a term uniformly used in the recovery world to describe a return to use, whether one time or for a longer period. The problem is that it assigns more meaning to substance use than is useful.

The term “relapse” has connotations of an ongoing pattern of use and a total suspension of a person’s recovery plan. This can feel defeating and create a sense of shame in a person who does return to use, as if they are resigned to a label for a state of being. There are a number of ways a “relapse” can look, including a movement into more managed use or a temporary slip. Calling substance use following a period of abstinence across the board a relapse makes it hard for many having that experience to feel like they can come back from it.

We can use updated terminology to reduce the shame and the defeat of a return to use. For example, referring to a temporary slip as a setback rather than as a relapse can make a big difference in self-image as someone returns to abstinence-based recovery. Similarly, using more compassionate terms for a longer-term return to use can make a big difference. “Return to use” itself is a great way to identify a behavior without assigning morality or unnecessary meaning to it. Which brings me to my final point…

Nobody Is “Out”

When someone returns to use, you might hear someone say that they “went out”. Generally, it is understandable to see a departure from abstinence-based recovery you once shared as being other or alien.

That being said, this places a clear label on two groups as either “in” or “out”. No one we care about should ever be considered out of the realm of the love and support of their peers. Substance use behavior can be inherently isolating, and “going out” places them somewhere away from their community. We can do better.

Final Takeaway

None of this is meant to be taken as decrying or placing morality on the language we are so used to. The only goal is compassion in the face of a trend that is only getting more complicated, and we can use language that improves the likelihood that people who use drugs feel more understood and supported.