The Role of Communication Apprehension and Anxiety in Addiction Counseling

The seeking of both physical and mental health services can be fraught with presumptive notions, which are often stigmatizing and marginalizing. Further, these are often greatly exacerbated by communication. Communication attributes (e.g., styles) of the source can, and quite often do, affect the stigmatization process. Focusing on perhaps one of the most debilitating communication traits, communication apprehension and communication anxiety, this chapter presents a new way of conceptualizing the role that such source characteristics of communication have on a person’s ability to seek out assistance in the context of addiction counseling and mental health. Specifically, this chapter explores communication apprehension/anxiety as a “soft” stigma; a communication-based stigma that is created and recreated through everyday interactions that isolates, marginalizes, and otherwise characterizes people as undesirable or unworthy based on how they navigate interactions with others. This chapter serves as an overview of the role of communication apprehension/anxiety and soft stigma in addiction counseling with numerous important takeaways.