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Public Discourse on the Biology of Alcohol Addiction: Implications for Stigma, Self-Control, Essentialism, and Coercive Policies in Pregnancy

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Abstract

International media have reported cases of pregnant women who have had their children apprehended by social services, or who were incarcerated or forced into treatment programs based on a history of substance use or lack of adherence to addiction treatment programs. Public discourse on the biology of addiction has been criticized for generating stigma and a diminished perception of self-control in individuals with an addiction, potentially contributing to coercive approaches and criminalization of women who misuse substances during pregnancy. We explored whether this is the case based on literature from social psychology, ethics, addiction research, science communication, and philosophy. The literature shows that the relationship between public discourse on biological aspects of addiction and issues such as stigma and perceptions of diminished self-control are unclear, largely due to the complexity of these phenomena. However, concerns about the biological approach are nevertheless legitimate given the broader social and policy context of women’s health.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Social stigma is described as a process by which human groups and societies deliberately or instinctively condemn and ostracize individuals based on specific traits or behaviours to ensure social cohesion [76].

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Conflict of Interest

None.

Funding

Support for the writing of this paper comes from NeuroDevNet (E.R.) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (Career Award, E.R.; Master’s Training Award, N.Z.), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (ER).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), 110 Avenue des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2W lR7, Canada

    Eric Racine, Emily Bell & Natalie Zizzo

  2. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine & Emily Bell

  3. Department of Medicine and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine

  4. Division of Experimental Medicine & Biomedical Ethics Unit, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine & Natalie Zizzo

  5. Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Courtney Green

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  1. Eric Racine
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Correspondence to Eric Racine.

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Racine, E., Bell, E., Zizzo, N. et al. Public Discourse on the Biology of Alcohol Addiction: Implications for Stigma, Self-Control, Essentialism, and Coercive Policies in Pregnancy. Neuroethics 8, 177–186 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-014-9228-x

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