Daily Mail (UK):"Time to kick this deadly addiction: As a new report reveals..."

Daily Mail, UK -- September 9, 2019

 

Time to kick this deadly addiction: As a new report reveals GPs are doling out pills that are harder to get off than heroin, Dr MAX PEMBERTON says we need to stop ignoring this scandal

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7445887/Dr-MAX-PEMBERTON-says-time-kick-deadly-prescription-pill-addiction.html

Sounds about right:

 

Indeed, many doctors secretly refer to any kind of detoxification from them as a ‘die-tox’ because the withdrawal symptoms — insomnia, violent shaking, sweating, hallucinations, crippling anxiety and panic attacks — are so gruesome that people really do feel like they are dying.

The fact that they “secretly” say that shows how craven these doctors can be.

I hate the use of the word "addiction" in this article. I'm not at all surprised at its use, since this paper tends to have attention-grabbing headlines and to use the word "addiction" liberally, even if it's not appropriate. However, I do think this paper has made repeated efforts to bring attention to this issue in the UK over a period of time. Now, if they could just get the language right...

U should write to the daily mail?

I hate the use of the word "addiction" in this article. I'm not at all surprised at its use, since this paper tends to have attention-grabbing headlines and to use the word "addiction" liberally, even if it's not appropriate. However, I do think this paper has made repeated efforts to bring attention to this issue in the UK over a period of time. Now, if they could just get the language right...

 

Dr Max Pemberton is clearly using the language of addiction so I would not blame the newspaper entirely in this instance. 

 

The Mail has certainly helped with the campaign on prescribed drug dependence, but its use of language is a constant source of annoyance. 

 

 

U should write to the daily mail?

 

Hi pheonix,

Nice to see you around these parts again.

 

As far as writing to anyone, no, I prefer not to. It's a personal decision. But if others are moved to do so, I think that's great.

I hate the use of the word "addiction" in this article. I'm not at all surprised at its use, since this paper tends to have attention-grabbing headlines and to use the word "addiction" liberally, even if it's not appropriate. However, I do think this paper has made repeated efforts to bring attention to this issue in the UK over a period of time. Now, if they could just get the language right...

 

Dr Max Pemberton is clearly using the language of addiction so I would not blame the newspaper entirely in this instance. 

 

The Mail has certainly helped with the campaign on prescribed drug dependence, but its use of language is a constant source of annoyance.

 

I do wish that people who are writing publicly on this topic would do their homework. They're in a unique position to reach a wide audience, and they could be informing and educating people appropriately. In this case, it's a lost opportunity.

I hate the use of the word "addiction" in this article. I'm not at all surprised at its use, since this paper tends to have attention-grabbing headlines and to use the word "addiction" liberally, even if it's not appropriate. However, I do think this paper has made repeated efforts to bring attention to this issue in the UK over a period of time. Now, if they could just get the language right...

 

Dr Max Pemberton is clearly using the language of addiction so I would not blame the newspaper entirely in this instance. 

 

The Mail has certainly helped with the campaign on prescribed drug dependence, but its use of language is a constant source of annoyance.

 

I do wish that people who are writing publicly on this topic would do their homework. They're in a unique position to reach a wide audience, and they could be informing and educating people appropriately. In this case, it's a lost opportunity.

 

Yes, I wish they would too.

The use of the word addiction just turned me completely off the article. 

the word addiction definitelyis inaccurate, no doubt, but let's be honest about people reading the headlines, addiction grabs the sensationalism craving reader's attention more than dependence.  and what we need right now is attention to our cause, because we're dying out here.  i say let them call it addiction for now, and correct them in the public airings and articles and interviews. just like children in school, first you have to entertain them and get their attention, THEN you slip them the education. not the other way around.  how many boring facts did we have to memorize and now forgot long since? but remeber the one teacher who was special and understood how to engage your interest? the one that made the boring stuff interesting, who then got you to listen to the lesons? i do.

the word addiction definitelyis inaccurate, no doubt, but let's be honest about people reading the headlines, addiction grabs the sensationalism craving reader's attention more than dependence.  and what we need right now is attention to our cause, because we're dying out here.  i say let them call it addiction for now, and correct them in the public airings and articles and interviews. just like children in school, first you have to entertain them and get their attention, THEN you slip them the education. not the other way around.  how many boring facts did we have to memorize and now forgot long since? but remeber the one teacher who was special and understood how to engage your interest? the one that made the boring stuff interesting, who then got you to listen to the lesons? i do.

 

So basically cement the victim blaming addiction narrative that most people already have and then try to reverse it.

 

Great plan.

I agree with FG.

 

Once you grab people with the word addiction, their eyes start glazing over and they're thinking, "Oh, well, sucks for them, but it won't happen to me."

 

We have to get away ENTIRELY from that word. It does the benzo community no favors at all.

I agree with FG.

 

Once you grab people with the word addiction, their eyes start glazing over and they're thinking, "Oh, well, sucks for them, but it won't happen to me."

 

We have to get away ENTIRELY from that word. It does the benzo community no favors at all.

 

There is no middle ground.

 

We won't even make a dent in this problem as long as we have people in the benzo community excusing the improper use of language.

The use of the word addiction just turned me completely off the article. 

 

It turned me off from the article too. I didn't even read it until I saw FG reply. I don't always agree with him but, I do enjoy reading his comments. This time I agree with FG: "We have to get away ENTIRELY from that word. It does the benzo community no favors at all." 

I agree with FG.

 

Once you grab people with the word addiction, their eyes start glazing over and they're thinking, "Oh, well, sucks for them, but it won't happen to me."

 

We have to get away ENTIRELY from that word. It does the benzo community no favors at all.

 

There is no middle ground.

 

We won't even make a dent in this problem as long as we have people in the benzo community excusing the improper use of language.

 

I like this article by Janice of BIC: https://www.benzoinfo.com/2019/09/23/benzo-induced-harm-the-nameless-problem/

 

We Cannot Fix What We Cannot Communicate

At BIC, we often receive inquiries from journalists and other media outlets wanting to do a piece on “benzo addiction.” Our organization then will ask which “addiction” they are referring to — real addiction, or physical dependence and other prescribed harms that are just being misclassified under the addiction umbrella? This usually prompts a discussion about the differences and results in (mostly) accurate terminology used in the final media story. Unfortunately, BIC isn’t consulted for every piece out there and the internet is littered with dangerous misinformation from media outlets around this issue. How can consumers and the public get informed if this is what we are up against?

 

Seeking help from the medical field doesn’t typically go any better. Instead of having their damage addressed, chronically-ill benzodiazepine patients are often forced to see addiction medicine specialists. As one may expect, these addiction medicine specialists tend to see every patient through an addiction lens. They, like many medical professionals, are often clueless about the level of harm benzodiazepines can cause and often invalidate benzodiazepine-harmed patients with observations and diagnoses such as “unwillingness to get better,” “malingerer” or “underlying mental illness.” Some professionals are more sympathetic but still remain unable to provide any useful help simply due to a lack of education and scant benzodiazepine-harm focused research around effective treatments.

We havnt even gotten articles in the US press with the word addiction. We get nothing

You're right about that, Quiet. Nothing. It boggles my mind. I'm hoping that with Lisa's documentary, we're going to be seeing more and more articles about benzos - hopefully without the word addiction.

 

One thing I didn't like about the symposium at Arizona State University was the sort of breakdown into addiction talk at the very end. I felt like yelling, "This symposium isn't about addiction!! It's about people suffering from following their doctors' orders!!" But I thought the rest was excellent. I should have known the the word addiction would worm its way into the conversation somehow. 

Funny how the word 'addiction' and the words "mentally ill" essentially do the same thing...render you invisible and/or unreliable

We havnt even gotten articles in the US press with the word addiction. We get nothing

 

Have you seen this New York Times article from last year? It's very good. (Don't miss the comments, either. Definitely worth reading.)

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/health/elderly-drugs-addiction.html 

Thanks, Lapis. Quite good.

Thanks, Lapis. Quite good.

 

You're welcome, Qq. They also did one on antidepressant withdrawal, which also garnered many, many comments. I learned as much through the comments of these two articles as I did through the content of the articles themselves. Very enlightening. People have such varied experiences and thoughts about these medications.

Funny how the word 'addiction' and the words "mentally ill" essentially do the same thing...render you invisible and/or unreliable

 

Exactly.

 

That's why we need to push back against improper language and make sure that we highlight the fact that this can happen to ANYONE, even if it is taken exactly as prescribed and even if it is prescribed for something other than a mental condition.

 

Perception is reality. We have have had over 50 years of bad press convincing people that this is an addiction issue, therefore the blame lies on the patient.

 

It is going to take many more years to change that narrative and it will NEVER happen unless the broader benzo community wakes up and takes action to affect that change.