This is an example of language framing. Language framing uses words and phrases to direct attention to a point of view to advance a vested interest.
In this case the use of the phrase “honest and denial free” in the context of physician reporting imparts associative meaning to the reader.
As denial is a recurring motif and cardinal attribute of physician addiction according to the paradigm, the connotation is that the reports by physicians may have been influenced by dishonesty and denial while face-to-face interviews done by “trained” interviewers were not.
“Framing” is another propaganda technique designed to tell the audience how to interpret the information given through context. The message here is that the somewhat less lifetime prevalence of substance abuse and addiction in physicians found by anonymous mail survey may be underreported as a result of both methodology and denial.
AMSA is now known as the ASAM
But in actual fact there is a large body of research regarding “social desirability bias” that shows the converse to be true.
Principles of Addiction Medicine devotes a chapter to Physician Health Programs. Written by Paul Earley, M.D., FASAM,1 Earley states that the lifetime prevalence of substance abuse or addiction in physicians found by Hughes2 is “somewhat less than the percentage in the general population reported by Kessler” of 14.6%.3
Although he specifies the numerical percentage “in physicians at 7.9%,”3 he avoids the use of numbers (14.6%) in the general population. He instead uses the qualifier “somewhat less.” Why is this?
My guess is because it understates the statistical fact that the prevalence found by Kessler in the general population was almost twice that found by Hughes in physicians.
You see, “Somewhat less” is a “detensifier.” It creates an impression of a small disparity between doctors and the general population.
In propaganda this is what is known as a “weasel phrase.” Weasel phrases are used to obfuscate the…
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Disrupted Physician 
It is the only way people will profit from coercion. Jeff West
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