Relapse is very dangerous. However, relapse can be a symptom of the disease. Sometimes there are multiple relapses before you get sober and stay sober.
David SheffRead
If you subscribe to the idea that # addiction is a disease, it is startling to see how many of these children - paranoid, anxious, bruised, tremulous, withered, in some cases psychotic - are seriously ill, slowly dying. We'd never allow such a scene if these kids had any other disease. They would be in a hospital, not on the streets.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the perception of addiction as a disease and the neglect faced by children struggling with it compared to other illnesses.
David Sheff emphasizes the urgent need to recognize addiction, particularly in children, as a serious and debilitating disease that requires medical attention. He draws attention to the stark contrast in societal responses to addiction versus other diseases, advocating for a compassionate and proactive approach to treatment rather than abandonment on the streets.
Themes
AddictionDiseaseChildrenTreatmentSocietyHealthCompassion
In practice
Example use cases
During a health seminar discussing the challenges of addiction among youth.
More from David Sheff
All quotes →If you love someone who's an addict and their use is life-threatening, you don't wait until they hit bottom because that can mean that they're going to die. You have to do everything you can to get them in treatment.
David SheffRead
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 pathetic--has contributed to the escalation of use and has hampered treatment more than any single other factor.
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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 as addiction itself.
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Through Nic's drug addiction, I have learned that parents can bear almost anything....I shock myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate things once unthinkable. The rationalizations escalate....It's only marijuana. He gets high only on weekends. At least he's not using hard drugs.
David SheffRead
Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying
David SheffRead
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