Matthew Perry and Alcoholics Anonymous: Does Anonymity Perpetuate Stigma?

IT’S COMPLICATED & SIMPLE –

Oct. 28, 2022 – In his new memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Matthew Perry opens up about overcoming his drug and alcohol addictions – a decades-long struggle he attempted to hide from family, friends and co-stars.

Treatment centers and sober living facilities have helped him in his road to recovery, he told the New York Times earlier this week. In Alcoholics Anonymous, he sponsors three members, but he isn’t sold on the anonymous aspect of the program.

“It suggests that there’s a stigma and that we have to hide,” Perry told the Times Sunday. “This is not a popular opinion, by the way.”

For more than half a century, Alcoholics Anonymous has provided a sense of security, or as Perry called it, “the gift of anonymity,” for an issue that is still deeply misunderstood. Some experts worry the pressure to hide alcoholism may perpetuate internalized shame that prevents people from being treated in the first place. But this right to privacy is often a crucial impetus in seeking help.