Previous literature suggests that substance abuse is more stigmatized than all other mental illness, evoking greater negative social attitudes than disorders like schizophrenia (Corrigan et al. 2000; Crisp, Gelder, Rix, Meltzer, & Rowlands, 2000). Additional research reported that the majority of the U.S. public views individuals with substance use disorders negatively, believing that they are “lazy”, “losers” and have “no future” (Blendon & Young, 1998). Self -stigma associated with mental illness, including substance abuse disorders can deter individuals from seeking treatment or cause them to avoid treatment all together (Fung et al., 2008; Livingston & Boyd, 2010). Therefore, it is important to contribute to previous research on societal stigma and self-stigma in order to have a better understanding of it’s effects on individual’s thought processes and implement the most successful treatment …show more content…
One study found more underreporting of cocaine than of marijuana use (Fendrich & Vaughn, 1994), suggesting substance abusers use less deception when reporting less stigmatized drugs. Another study found that intravenous drug users reported more perceived stigma, more experiences of stigma-related rejection and more secrecy coping, compared to non-intravenous drug users (Luoma, et al., 2008). Our research aims to identify differences in self-deception among alcohol abusers, drug abusers, and both alcohol and drug abusers in order to identify the amount of societal stigma surrounding a behavior as a correlate of