Thank-you for sharing this Lena, as it really helps us understand a little bit about where your passion for humanizing addiction comes from. It’s interesting to think about the fact that seeing someone as human before labeling them as an addict could make such a positive impact on someone’s life. It’s almost like that “people-first” language we use when talking about people with disabilities (I.e. saying “person with hearing impairment” instead of “deaf person”) I don’t know if that is controversial to say, but it reminds me of that.
On another note, how do you feel about people who enable someone’s addiction by refusing to acknowledge it as a true sickness? I am not at all saying this is what your family did, but it is something that my family has done in the past, and it frustrates me because I just want everyone to call it what it is so we can deal with the problem. I think this irks me even more because I know that there are people in my family who would rather not talk about another family member’s struggle with addiction, not because they want to humanize them, but because it is taboo to discuss such things in front of other people. Does that make sense? Like no one wants to talk about the family addicts at Thanksgiving because we want everyone’s life to appear perfect from afar. Just a thought.
Thanks again for sharing, and I’m sorry if my response oversteps any boundaries.
