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
Like most people I knew, I thought drug addicts were the kinds of people we see in doorways in neighbourhoods most of us try to avoid - people obviously strung out, often homeless and possibly psychotic. I didn't think my son could become addicted, but he had.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the misconception people have about drug addiction and its potential to affect anyone, including loved ones.
In this quote, David Sheff expresses the common stereotype surrounding drug addiction, which is often associated with marginalized individuals. He confronts the painful reality that addiction can affect anyone, including his own son, emphasizing the need for a broader understanding of the issue and a shift in perception regarding those who struggle with addiction.
Themes
AddictionPerceptionUnderstandingFamilyStereotypes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the hidden struggles of addiction within families.
More from David Sheff
All quotes →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.
David SheffRead
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.
David SheffRead
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.
David SheffRead
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
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