How can both Nics, the loving and considerate and generous one, and the self-obsessed and self-destructive one, be the same person?.

At my worst, I even resented Nic because an addict, at least when high, has a momentary respite from his suffering. There is no similar relief for pa….

How innocent we are of our mistakes and how we responsible we are for them..

I am becoming used to an overwhelming, grinding mixture of anger and worry..

If you subscribe to the idea that #‎ addiction is a disease, it is startling to see how many of these children - paranoid, anxious, bruised, tremul….

We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know..

Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating….

An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it..

A world of contradictions, wherein everything is gray and almost nothing is black and white..

When I transformed my random and raw words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into chapters, a semblance of order and sanity a….

Here's a note to the parents of addicted children: Choose your music carefully...There are millions of treacherous moments..

I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it..

The hopeful part about that is when you do have that help, you will feel better. It still doesn't make this easy. Nothing makes this easy, but you ca….

I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of pro….

Why does it help to read others' stories? It is not only that misery loves company, because (I learned) misery is too self-absorbed to want much comp….

Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good..

Openness is the first step toward recovery... addiction remains a secret because of the overwhelming shame associated with it..

This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, dissolute, and pat….

Once and for all, people must understand that addiction is a disease. It’s critical if we’re going to effectively prevent and treat addiction. Accept….

Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying.

Through Nic's drug addiction, I have learned that parents can bear almost anything....I shock myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate thin….