The Changing Perceptions of the term "Addict"

Some things change and some things stay the same. Forty years ago, in American society, the term “addict” had an entirely different meaning than it does today. People who "shot up" were called "junkies" and, for many people, LSD was something the "freaks" did. Today there is much less social division between the use of various drugs. Sure, some things are legal and others are not. Some drugs may be “hard drugs” and others “soft”. Still, all the drugs that exist today tend to fall under a more general umbrella than how they were categorized 40 years ago. The social stigmas that surrounded some drugs as opposed to others have changed. Even the terms "addict” and “alcoholic" are no longer perceived in the same sense as being a "social outcast" but rather refer to people who have become members of a "12-step group". Today there are the 12-step recovery groups for just about every problem you can imagine. The Internet advertises hundreds of groups from "Overeaters Anonymous" to "Self-Mutilators Anonymous" and, once again, the term “addict” has become a household term. We may be surprised to notice how fast things have changed and yet, underneath these changes, there may still be some basic principles about addiction that have always remained the same.