Rhetoric of the Opioid Epidemic

Tiara K. Good is faculty in the Communication Studies Department at Western Oregon University.

• Table of ContentsIntroduction: Deaths of Despair and the Opioid Epidemic NowChapter 1 What is the Opioid Epidemic?: A Brief SummaryChapter 2 Tattered social fabric and dashed expectations: Documenting the Epidemic through Documentary FilmsChapter 3 “Ben is Back:” Rhetoric of Mothers in the Opioid EpidemicChapter 4 Defining Trump’s America through Crisis: Remarks on Combatting the Opioid CrisisChapter 5 Mapping the Epidemic: ODMAP and the boundaries of responseChapter 6 A Brief Analysis and Sample of the Chronic Pain Management Debate in the United StatesConclusion: A Very American Epidemic: Rhetoric of the Opioid Epidemic

The opioid epidemic is often framed as either a legal or public health problem. In this insightful work, Tiara Good approaches it as a rhetorical problem and examines the ways opioid addiction has become meaningful in American culture. Moving confidently across cinematic, political, governmental, and press accounts, Good explores the processes through which we have come to talk and feel about this public health crisis and the way these discourses have shaped our policies and practices.