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Abstract
Stigma felt by those with substance use disorders (SUDs) is both well documented and often a barrier to seeking treatment. This research was designed to better understand how stigma may change as people enter recovery and to document the trajectory of public stigma towards those in the three stages of recovery from a SUD (i.e., early, sustained, long-term). Participants (N = 187) were randomly assigned to read one of five brief vignettes about the life events a person who: (1) had no history of a SUD, (2) was currently using heroin, or was in (3) early recovery - 6 months, (4) sustained recovery - 2 years, or (5) long-term recovery - 5 years. Findings from this study revealed that public stigmatization is frequently lower for those in recovery from a SUD than for those currently using, and that stigma is similar across all three stages of recovery. Several factors of public stigma (i.e., bad character traits, support of discrimination) were less-strongly endorsed across all recovery stages, while endorsement of other stigma factors (i.e., perceptions of worthlessness or criminality) was higher in early recovery than in long-term recovery. Alternately, endorsement of good character traits and hopeful emotional reactions were quite high in early recovery and beyond. Obtaining a better understanding of how public stigmatization changes when directed at individuals at different stages of SUD recovery can help focus efforts on decreasing the remaining stigma.