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
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 parents or children or husbands or wives or others who love them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggles and resentments felt by loved ones of addicts, highlighting their lack of relief from suffering.
David Sheff's quote encapsulates the deep pain and frustration experienced by the family members and loved ones of an addict. While the addict may find temporary escape from their suffering through substances, their loved ones are left in an unrelenting state of emotional turmoil and distress. This contrast emphasizes the often overlooked hardships faced by those who care for individuals grappling with addiction, revealing that their struggle is different yet equally profound.
Themes
AddictionSufferingLoveFamilyResentment
In practice
Example use cases
During a support group meeting for families of addicts, this quote can serve to highlight the emotional pain experienced by loved ones.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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