I think the article makes some good points here and there. ...Nevertheless, it is apparent that the authors don't know thing #1 about addiction, from a brain perspective, 12-step perspective, or otherwise. Claiming that societal shame and stigma could be "healthy" for addicts who have not yet been in recovery is preposterous. It flies in the face of all the research and evidence that is out there re: addiction. An addict's conception of "healthy shame" is only achieved well into a recovery program. Until then, shame plays a decidedly detrimental role in the addiction. In actuality, shame is typically the driver of addictive behavior.

Very true. Toxic shame is the term I've heard of...feeling like a failure, defective, flawed...how can THAT be healthy?

If a person feels absolutely alone and isolated they are going to seek ways to comfort themselves. It doesn't matter what it takes, if it eases the suffering, humans will utilize it. The key is to find other ways to ease the suffering...substituting healthy and productive behaviors for the unhealthy and destructive ones. Compulsive and addictive behaviors only create a cycle of shame and guilt if compassionate therapies don't intervene. I can't see the use of shame being anything but an inhumane treatment option.

It's the typical ultra-conservative view shared by people like Dr. Laura Schlesinger that guilt and shame are virtues because feeling those things implies that one's values and morals are in order. I'll allow there's a certain truth to that. I think it's also an ultra-conservative distain for mollycoddling alcoholics, who are demonstrably weak because they can't hold their liquor (ironic).

Thank you. As someone in recovery, I was reading this article with great interest until the phrase "healthy role that shame can play" came along. Instantly, Mr. Poleti lost his credibility with me. It was shame that embarrassed me away from confronting my addiction and seeking help, an addiction I managed to keep secret - out of shame - from family, friends, and employers for years. Mr. Poleti can join Nancy Reagan and the so-called "Partnership for a Drug-Free America" in that class of arrogant finger-waggers who believe that sermonizing, moral superiority, and "good old-fashioned American willpower" are the solution to everything. If you're a user struggling to recover, these people are a joke.

If you haven't been there, don't pretend you know what's it like.