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‘Drug Addiction’ and ‘Drug Dependence’: A Note on Word Meanings
Author(s) -
Rippere Vicky
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
british journal of addiction to alcohol and other drugs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0007-0890
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1978.tb00172.x
Subject(s) - addiction , drug , connotation , psychology , emotive , term (time) , psychiatry , linguistics , epistemology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
Summary This paper presents semantic differential data from 5 groups of English‐speaking subjects showing that the connotations of the verbal concept ‘drug dependence’ are less negative than those of drug addiction'. It thus appears that substituting the term ‘drug dependence’ for ‘drug addiction’ as recommended by the WHO may promote a shift towards less emotive discourse. However, subject report data suggest that the difference in connotation may to some extent be related to a difference in what ‘drug dependence’ denotes for these subjects.