++Expert-approved tips — both big and small — to take you into 2024 and beyond. +
++For those looking for a quick fix on how to live better, here’s the bad news: There’s no one right way to experience life. We’re all doing our best to get by and treat others with respect in a world that’s flawed, messy, and unequal. The good news: With no one-size-fits-all approach to happiness, anything that brings joy to others and ourselves is worth pursuing. How we make meaning in our lives, despite the challenges we face, can help bring us closer to that ideal “best” life. +
++At Vox, much of my reporting centers on helping people live better, offering insight on how to have stronger relationships, a deeper understanding of the self, and how to be a little kinder to ourselves (and everyone else) in the process. As I look back on the advice shared with Even Better in 2023 — lessons from academics and authors to therapists and parenting gurus — the biggest takeaway I gleaned was how little effort it takes to imbue life with a bit more meaning. Whether that means effectively connecting with friends and loved ones or getting a little closer to finding your life’s purpose, experts have offered insights that have informed our work all year. +
++After combing through all the many words of wisdom shared with readers this year, here are some of the most poignant pieces of advice on how to live a more meaningful life. +
++Have one meaningful face-to-face conversation every day +
++There’s no magic formula for how much social interaction one needs to feel fulfilled, but Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies and the director of the Relationships and Technology Lab at the University of Kansas has one bit of advice: “The most impactful thing to do is have a meaningful conversation with someone you really like, face-to-face” every day, he says. The second best is having a daily conversation that fits any of the following criteria: The chat is face-to-face, it’s with someone you’re close with, or it’s a quality discussion (meaning you’re catching up, laughing, or getting deep). +
++Read more: How much social interaction do you actually need? +
++Send the text already +
++You’re thinking of a friend whom you haven’t talked to in a while and want to send them some well wishes. Or maybe you want to compliment a stranger’s jacket on the street. Will your friend respond? Will the stranger think you’re weird? We often talk ourselves out of offering low-lift kindnesses to others due to fear we’ll be rejected or embarrassed. Plenty of studies show that doing the nice thing — sending the text or the thank-you note, extending the compliment — is well received and makes you feel good, too. “Being kind to other people, doing nice things for others — those are the activities that tend to improve our well-being,” says Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. “Folks have lots of opportunities for acting in these other-oriented ways that they don’t take advantage of.” +
++Read more: Small acts of kindness matter more than you think +
++Capture memories with simple reflections +
++If you wake up every morning with little recollection of what you did the day prior, take a few minutes before bed to think back on moments you want to remember. Whether you choose to look at photos or videos on your phone, write in a gratitude journal, or recap the day with your partner or roommate, the more you reflect on your life, “over time you realize you’ll actually be able to remember more details of your life,” says five-time USA Memory Champion and memory coach Nelson Dellis. +
++Read more: Want to improve your memory? Try these unexpected tips. +
++Start a niche, ritualized social activity +
++A potential answer to the eternal question of “how do I make more friends in adulthood?” per Vox’s Rebecca Jennings: Join a club. “It’s a lot less risky to ask someone — or all of your Instagram followers — if they want to join your book club or pizza club or whatever club than to ask them to hang out one-on-one,” she writes. “When there’s a schedule and an activity, there’s less room for either party to feel as though they’re contributing too much or not enough, to convince themselves every uncomfortable silence equals imminent humiliation.” +
++Read more: Want to make more friends? Start a club. +
++Just being there for someone who’s going through a hard time is enough +
++When tragedy strikes and we’re called upon to support those we love, we often freeze. We’re afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing and further upsetting our already grieving friend. However, simply calling or texting a loved one and offering time is enough, says Roxane Cohen Silver, a distinguished professor of psychological science, public health, and medicine at the University of California Irvine. Don’t overthink it: Ask, “How are you feeling today?” or say, “I’m thinking of you,” “You crossed my mind today,” and “I’m just checking in.” +
++Read more: How to offer help when you don’t know what to say +
++When speaking with kids, let them lead the conversation +
++Children are some of the most interesting conversation partners once you get them going. To get there, resist the urge to fill the space and let them guide the conversation. “Ask questions and let the kid direct the flow; they’ll naturally lead the conversation toward what interests them most,” contributor Charley Locke writes. Ask kiddos about their hobbies and favorite subjects in school, and “don’t try to show off how much you know — encourage them to share instead,” writes Locke. +
++Read more: How to (actually) talk to kids +
++Apologizing is more than saying you’re sorry +
++An effective apology has six (and a half) components, according to Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy, the authors of the book Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: The Case for Good Apologies: +
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- +The words “I’m sorry” or “I apologize.” + +
- +The specific reason you’re apologizing; the thing you did. + +
- +An understanding of why your actions hurt another person. + +
- +An explanation for why you did what you did (but don’t make excuses). + +
- +A plan for how you will avoid this infraction again in the future. + +
- +An offer to fix what’s broken. + +
+Finally, listen to the person or people you hurt — that’s the half-step. +
++Read more: Everyone messes up. Here’s how to say you’re sorry. +
++Make purposeful activities a regular part of your life +
++A life’s purpose is something you pursue long-term, are competent in, and that has an impact on the world or your community. If you have no idea what your purpose is, don’t panic: Many people don’t cultivate purpose until well into adulthood. To live more purposefully, think about the activities that you enjoy, and that fulfill and motivate you, then “organize your life in a way that allows for you to make those things more habitual,” says Patrick Hill, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “Ultimately, that can be a way to help people think about developing a purpose from the ground up, eventually.” +
++Read more: How to foster your purpose wherever you are in life +
++Use more words to describe your emotions +
++Therapy-speak offers succinct sound bites for complex terms. In the process, the meanings of these concepts, like gaslighting or trauma, become flattened and misconstrued. Instead of relying on pop psychology terms, try to be more descriptive when discussing your emotions and experiences, says licensed marriage and family therapist Moe Ari Brown. “If you’re wanting to call someone a narcissist,” Brown says, “what is it that I mean? I’m meaning that I experienced them as self-important and not really taking the time to notice other people’s needs. It’s okay to say that because that really clearly expresses what you’re thinking.” +
++Read more: The limits of therapy-speak +
++Give yourself permission to quit +
++If you’re considering picking up a new hobby as a New Year’s resolution, first of all: good for you! Second of all: give yourself criteria for when you’ll let yourself quit, also known as “kill criteria,” according to Annie Duke, author of Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away. +
++For example, “I’m going to run the marathon unless at some point, the medical staff tells me that I really ought to stop,” Duke says. What is the line you’d need to cross to give up on an endeavor? +
++Read more: The art of quitting +
++Feel free to ignore all of this advice if it doesn’t align with your life +
++Advice is only good advice if it feels applicable. “If the advice just does not gel with your lifestyle, if it’s not practical, it can be good advice for someone but not for you,” says John Paul Brammer, author of the advice column ¡Hola Papi!. +
++Similarly, parenting advice isn’t one-size-fits-all. What one child responds to may not be successful with another, even within the same family. “If you’re trying to do something, and it’s not working in your family, go ahead and give yourself the freedom to just not do it,” Bethany L. Johnson, a doctoral student in history at the University of South Carolina and co-author of the book You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise, told Vox’s Anna North. +
++Read more: How to tell when you’re getting good advice +
++Read more: From banning hugs to gentle parenting, how are you supposed to raise kids, anyway? +
++We shouldn’t give up on others so easily. +
++
++Would you give your mother nearly $10,000 to help her avoid catastrophe? +
++The question wasn’t rhetorical for comedian and writer Ashley Ray-Harris when, in September, the 32-year-old got a call from her mom. The family had a week to come up with close to $10,000 or else Ray-Harris’s mother would lose the house that once belonged to her parents. +
++In a karmic turn of fate, Ray-Harris had the funds. She’d slowly set aside $10,000 for a new car — her dream car, a 2017 Mazda CX-5. Instead of a down payment, Ray-Harris used her savings to keep a roof over her mother’s head. +
++The choice was never a choice at all. Reciprocating care and support to the woman who raised her was the only option. Throughout her life, Ray-Harris’s mother had spent money on guitar lessons, horseback riding lessons, and private school tuition — not to mention food, clothing, and shelter. “I’m able to help my mom with this because she put me in a place to achieve my dreams,” Ray-Harris says. “Obviously, I would pay that back to her.” +
++A not-insignificant number of strangers on the internet would have advised Ray-Harris to do just the opposite. In a moment of frustration, Ray-Harris posted about her family’s circumstances on X (formerly Twitter) and received a wide array of responses. Many people were moved by Ray-Harris’s readiness to come to her mother’s aid; others shared stories of similarly shouldering a large expense for their loved ones. What she wasn’t expecting was the number of replies from people who said they would not have offered the money to a parent. “People have different relationships with their parents,” she says, “but just the number of people who were like, ‘I love my mom, but I would never do this for her,’ seemed to come from a somewhat self-centered place.” +
++The support we’re willing to offer a close intimate (a parent, say) will vary wildly from what we feel we owe a stranger. Constant asks — for time, attention, affection, and money — can wear on a person’s patience, especially if they’re being called upon by multiple people in their lives. Silently keeping score in relationships may lead us to turn away from others when they need us most. From being too “at capacity” to support a friend to permanently resigning from bridesmaid duties, some people are tightening the reins on their emotional output in relationships of all stripes. Asking a friend for a ride home from the airport could be considered a moral offense. Dedicating a few minutes to watch over a stranger’s belongings at a coffee shop is a few minutes too long. Depending on your circumstances, offering time and support is too great a weight to bear without certainty you’ll get something in return. +
++As a result, some are sensing a “lack of reciprocation” with friends, an imbalance within relationships, and an intense focus on the nuclear family over community. People are undeniably spread thin, financially, emotionally, and for time, and they’re turning inward to seek reprieve. On a broad scale, this individualistic mindset can contribute to the ongoing loneliness epidemic and diminish avenues for social support. Although we are limited in our resources of time and emotions, we shouldn’t resign from duties of care and in the process relinquish ourselves from a tit-for-tat mentality. We can give of ourselves to those we interact with because we want to, not to even the score or to expect something in return. +
++Why we all need extra support right now +
++If it feels as though more people are in need of something, from the menial to the consequential, it’s because they are. There are more emotionally vulnerable people than ever. Most notably, the Covid-19 pandemic wrought suffering for many — the loss of life, employment, and social support led to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and substance use. Seventeen percent of Americans say they feel lonely daily; 12 percent of Americans reported having no close friends at all in 2021, up from 3 percent in 1990. A majority of adults are stressed by inflation, the economy, and having enough money to buy essentials. Half of adults say they or a family member experienced a mental health crisis, with mental health disorders reaching “epidemic rates” in children and adolescents. +
++During times of heightened emotional demand, there are two choices: leaning into collective care and support or shying away from others. “Where there’s need and stress, you can choose the path of individualism and pushing people away and never being there for anybody else because you’re so consumed with only preserving and protecting yourself,” says connection coach Kat Vellos, author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships, “or you can band together with other people and collectively pool your resources, whether those are emotional resources, financial resources, communal respect, social capital resources, and share the things that you have so that you can lift each other up and actually lighten the load for multiple people at one time.” +
++Working collaboratively for the betterment of all becomes increasingly difficult in the absence of trust in one another. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, 64 percent of Americans believe their trust in one another has shrunk. Half of Americans attribute this lack of trust to “a belief that people are not as reliable as they used to be,” according to the Pew survey. A lack of faith in others to come to our aid in a time of need supports the idea that we must be self-sustaining. “It’s up to each person to choose the world they want to live in: Is it one where you’re not going to look out for anybody else, but you maybe can’t expect anybody else to look out for you too?” Vellos says. “Or is it a world where you can be generous and compassionate with other people? Even if the amount we’re able to give varies day to day or hour to hour, but you know through investing in those relationships that when you need help and you need support, somebody else is going to be there for you, too.” +
++Why we shouldn’t “keep score” in relationships +
++A functional relationship requires a few ingredients: trust, consistency, and spending quality time together, says Kasley Killam, an expert in social health and connection and the author of a forthcoming book on social health. But perhaps most crucial is responsiveness, or how attentive we are to another person’s wants, needs, and goals, according to Richard Slatcher, a professor in the psychology department at the University of Georgia. Responsiveness can take the form of both instrumental support — like helping a friend move — and emotional support, such as listening closely in conversation. Research has shown that responsive partners convey warmth, understanding, validation; they strive to make their partners feel valued. When that responsiveness is reciprocated, what results is “upward spirals of responsiveness that ultimately enhance relationship quality for both people,” according to the authors of a 2010 study. +
++Sometimes, one party will endure a season of extended giving — perhaps after a friend loses a job or has a baby — but ideally, both sides will offer just as much as they accept. “A relationship is worth it if the benefits outweigh the costs — if you get as good as you give, so to speak,” says Pat Barclay, a professor of psychology at the University of Guelph. “If the costs start to outweigh the benefits, then people might not want to keep giving if they feel they’re being asked too much.” +
++The problem is, we’re notoriously biased when it comes to estimating how much of ourselves we extend to others compared to what we get in return, says Beverley Fehr, a professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg. Remembering all of the good deeds you’ve done for your sister comes far easier than recalling the times she brought you groceries when you were sick, cared for your pets while you were on vacation, and listened to you vent about work. “Partly, we have that bias in the interest of self-esteem or self-protection, wanting to feel good about ourselves, like ‘I’m the one who gives all the time,’” Fehr says. “But the other piece of it is that it’s just easier to remember our contributions than to remember another person’s contributions to a relationship.” +
++We don’t consciously keep score, Barclay notes. However, if resentment overtakes enthusiasm whenever a friend asks a favor, “that’s a sign your brain has been tracking that maybe they haven’t been pulling their weight,” he says. +
++When we feel like we’re the only ones doing the heavy lifting in a relationship, we’re likely to turn away from those connections. A friend may spend all of their emotional reserves worrying about getting their kids to school, making it through the workday, and having enough money for groceries. Attending your birthday party may not be a priority. As a result, both sides are deprived of what could have been a rejuvenating social encounter. The edicts of self-care would have us believe that safeguarding ourselves, not giving more of our energy to others, is the balm to emotional exhaustion. +
++But if society is made up of an emotionally tapped populace, there may not be enough support to go around. “The more [emotionally] needy people there are out there, the more demands there will be and it will be harder to meet each one,” Barclay says. “Furthermore, the more needy people there are, people who generally need emotional support, the less capacity each person will have … to be able to help others. So as conditions get worse, you might expect people to have less ability to help simply because there’s too many people to help and they don’t have as much capacity to give.” +
++Focus on the self encourages individualism +
++In the absence of policy changes that would provide more of a social and financial safety net, Americans look internally to improve their circumstances. Since the 1970s, self-help media has provided an avenue for people to improve their lives when so much — wages, costs — is out of their control. The rise of the wellness industry commodified self-care as something that can be purchased and experienced alone as a means of restoration. Even the popularization of therapy-speak reinforces the notion of tending to the self above all others. This focus on the individual as the sole determinant of happiness allows people increasingly to look inward for ways to better their lives. +
++This individualized approach to emotional fulfillment breeds what Kaisa Kuurne, a sociology lecturer at the University of Helsinki, and her colleague refer to as a “capable actor.” To outsiders, a capable actor is a highly productive member of society, but they find it difficult to ask for help or to express vulnerability. “It’s a side effect,” Kuurne says, “of individualism. That it can be potentially stigmatizing to be needy, so then you’re not really the moral individual.” +
++If you consider yourself efficient and independent, you may assume others in your life are, too. The capable actor theory explains the sentiment of those in comedian Ray-Harris’s X replies who encouraged her to leave her mother in the lurch, Kuurne says: that others’ apparent inability to care for themselves leaves them somehow unworthy of support. To think this way is to deny our collective vulnerability, Kuurne says. Sacrificing time and resources for another isn’t wasteful; it can imbue meaning and purpose and joy, says Killam, the social health expert. “Connection is a joy,” she says. “It’s not a chore. And if it feels like a chore, then maybe we need to reevaluate what our values are, what our priorities are.” +
++Purposefully prioritizing responsiveness +
++There are plenty of valid reasons we might be unable to support those in our life: family demands, work stress, money troubles, a mental health crisis, lost patience for a particularly time-consuming friend. However, we should avoid thinking of our relationships as transactional, but consider them mutually beneficial, connection coach Vellos says. They are people who enrich your life and whom you can count on in a time of need — and vice-versa. “If somebody views every interaction in our capitalist environment as some type of transaction,” she says, “they might unfairly categorize a very natural friendship interaction as some kind of transaction.” +
++We have to be motivated to view connections as a wellspring of meaning, says Slatcher, the University of Georgia professor. Considering others’ wants and needs does not mean ignoring your own; it means becoming more discerning in how to offer the appropriate support. Bolstering responsiveness in a relationship involves some trial and error, Fehr, the University of Winnipeg professor, says: You must discern whether a friend wants you to simply be a listening ear or hopes you spring into action to offer practical support. Acting out of self-interest is not particularly motivating, a 2022 study found. Instead, people are more likely to help in personal relationships when they feel like it is a reflection on their character. +
++So what, then, do we owe each other? To actually be there for someone, we must spend time together and be open to vulnerability. Among all of life’s demands and responsibilities, we may not have the time to check in with a friend, let alone get together with them. “You’re rarely in the same place as your intimate unless you arranged it intentionally,” Kuurne says. But if we don’t dedicate the time and space to those we love, they won’t know how to support us — and how we can support them — and thus won’t be as responsive. +
++Life is not a one-person show, but a company of players in an ensemble act. When someone we love is in need, as was Ray-Harris’s mother, we come to their aid not because we want something in return, but because our well-being depends on theirs. And if life gets too busy, too hectic, too chaotic, too much that we can’t prioritize those we love, it’s time to recalibrate. +
++“Because what are we actually living for?” Killam says. “It should be our relationships and the joy that comes from spending time with people you love.” +
++
++Medications can help the 1 in 12 people who suffer from alcohol use disorder. But most will never be treated. +
++There is something that kills more Americans every year than drug overdoses, than guns, than car accidents. It’s legal, doesn’t require a background check to buy, is widely advertised, and if you’re 21, you can probably buy it at your corner store. It’s called alcohol. +
++While cold beers, glasses of wine, and hard liquor cocktails are often treated as end-of-the-workday or weekend indulgences, alcohol is technically a psychoactive, addictive drug, one linked to over 50 fatal conditions, including heart disease; breast, pancreatic, and stomach cancers; liver disease; hypertension; and stroke. It contributes to the death of 140,000 people in the US annually, making it one of the leading causes of preventable death in the country. +
++More and more research supports the conclusion that even light drinking — that is, less than 15 drinks a week for men or eight drinks a week for women — can contribute to an increased risk for heart disease and cancers. More recent medical recommendations in countries like Canada have increasingly tightened, moving toward the idea that there is no truly safe level of alcohol consumption. +
++But the dose is the poison, and those who are at the greatest risk are those who consistently binge drink. This group suffers from alcohol use disorder, a condition where someone consumes excessive amounts of alcohol to the point that it impairs their ability to stop or control their use despite negative social, occupational, or health consequences. And that group is larger than you might think: more than 1 in 12 people in the US have AUD, and it’s likely that figure underestimates the real breadth of the problem. +
++In the 20th century, binge drinking coupled with its negative repercussions was called alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, or alcoholism. However, such diagnoses carry a shameful stigma and make unhealthy alcohol use seem like purely a bad choice, rather than the result of a brain-altering disease. By not indicating a range in how alcohol overuse can affect a person, these names also fell short of describing the condition of all people who drink in unhealthy ways. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association began defining all forms of excessive alcohol use as alcohol use disorder, or AUD. +
++“Decades ago alcohol use, and really all substance use disorders in general, were sort of viewed as personality flaws or moral failings,” Carrie Mintz, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, told Vox. “We really know now — especially from the past 50 years of increasing amounts of research and data — that these are really brain diseases. There are clear neurologic changes that occur with repeated pathologic use of a potentially addictive substance like alcohol.” +
++But while America treats other dangerous substances, such as opioids, as a public health problem, alcohol use is not treated similarly as a crisis — legally, medically, or culturally. Rather, access to alcohol is only growing. The alcoholic beverage industry generated $250 billion in revenue in 2021, while the category of hard alcohol spirits has now surpassed beer in total sales, even as the number of breweries in the US grew from 3,305 in 2017 to 4,493 in 2020. Alcohol is generally taxed higher than other goods in part to limit its consumption, but since 2000, these taxes have lost much of their value — and with it, their ability to curb consumption — because they haven’t kept up with inflation rates and beverage costs. +
++“It’s a real blind spot in drug policy, that a huge number of people are not willing to see alcohol as a drug for which we have a pretty serious problem,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. What this all means is that nearly a century since the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous — a program that studies show is the most effective at helping people achieve and maintain abstinence — the problem is only getting worse. +
++But that may be changing. As researchers continue to delve into how alcohol use can hurt one’s overall health and lead to addiction, more people are looking for solutions — especially for the group of heavy drinkers who need it most. Beyond the therapeutic and social groups like AA that have long existed to support AUD sufferers, there is a trio of FDA-approved drugs that have a history of curbing alcohol abuse. Rumblings of Ozempic’s apparent off-label ability to curb alcohol cravings, as well as overeating, have put the spotlight back on the power of medical intervention with the help of a prescription. In the same way that we view medications like Prozac as tools for treating depression, these medications could be a key element in AUD treatment plans. +
++But they remain vastly underused; while 14.1 million adults experienced AUD in the US in 2019, only 223,000 will ever be prescribed existing medications. The reasons for this vary; some patients don’t want to take a drug to treat their addiction, health care professionals lack awareness and training in treating AUD, and the ongoing stigma surrounding the disease makes it difficult for sufferers to seek help. +
++What’s clear is that the cost of failing to effectively treat alcohol abuse is astronomical, adding up to tens of thousands of deaths a year. AUD breaks apart families and disrupts the workplace, causing 232 million missed work days annually. New treatments and even laws are emerging daily, but it’s important for health care professionals and those with AUD to remember that effective treatment options are already available. +
++“I think it’s great that we have medications,” said Humphreys. “They all can be used much more than they are. None of them is at the level of antibiotics for infections. But they have a role, and it’s too bad we don’t use them more.” +
++What is AUD? +
++Americans can purchase alcohol at restaurants, bars, liquor shops, grocery stores, gas stations, and in some states, even drive-throughs. Alcohol is everywhere. “At the end of the day, it is so baked into our society to use alcohol. Some people are going to drink it and never develop a problem, and other people are going to develop a problem,” said Mark Disselkoen, the senior project manager at the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the University of Nevada Reno. +
++While AUD and its effects are widespread, those suffering the most from the disease are the most frequent and heaviest drinkers. Data from the late 2000s showed that the top 10 percent of American drinkers (approximately 24 million people) consumed an average of 74 alcoholic drinks a week, which means those with the most severe form of AUD purchase over half the alcohol bought in the country. +
++The research since then only further proves the pervasive influence of alcohol in the US. Americans spend billions on alcohol every year, with approximately 65 percent of adults of legal drinking age in the US reporting they drink alcohol (the average American consumes 2.51 gallons of the substance annually). +
++And the numbers only got worse when Covid-19 swept across the country. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, studies show that overall a quarter of Americans drank more than they usually did due to the stress of the pandemic. +
++AUD remains most common in men, but the rate of alcohol-related deaths is growing faster for women, partially due to a general uptick in alcohol consumption by the group. This is an unfortunate shift, explained in part by women’s greater susceptibility to alcohol-related liver and heart disease, and cancers. +
++Historically, repeated binge drinking episodes — periods where men drink five or more alcoholic beverages in two hours, or for women, four or more beverages in two hours — were called alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence. The DSM-IV (a widely used manual published by the American Psychiatric Association to help diagnose mental disorders) categorized alcohol use as either abuse — continued alcohol use despite negative consequences — or dependence, an increasing need for consumption to become intoxicated and avoid withdrawal symptoms, George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told Vox. +
++But these outdated terms perpetuate negative connotations and stereotypes about people who drink, the experts Vox spoke to agreed. “The terms ‘alcohol abuse’ or ‘substance abuse’ are terms that we try to avoid,” said Kenneth Leonard, the director of the Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions at the University at Buffalo and the former president of the Division of Addictions of the American Psychological Association. “They have the impact of stigmatizing individuals who have an alcohol use or substance use disorder.” Additionally, because the word “abuse” is associated with violence, it leads to people seeking to punish those with AUD, rather than treat them, said Humphreys. +
++In 2013, the APA replaced the DSM-IV with the DSM-5, which recategorized all forms of abuse as AUD, with cases ranging from mild to moderate or severe. The DSM-5 criteria include a series of yes-or-no questions about a patient’s drinking habits and the repercussions of those habits from the last year. +
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