I know this is an older post, but I ran across it googling, and wanted to tell you how great honest people are n those settings. People who continue to pad the severity of a loved one’s problem aren’t really going to solve anything.

Here’s an interesting perspective you may not have thought about vis a vis the sympathy for addicted folks, and why they do it. In my immediate family, my father was considered the epicentre of all trouble. He drank so much, it was pathetic. I, like you, grew up with a real aversion to people who did that kind of stuff. Some years later after some strange life turns, I discovered I had bipolar disorder. Doing some research, it turns out my dad did too, as did quite a few of my relatives. Back then (early 60s) it still wasn’t really acceptable to talk about mental illness, and a lot of people self-medicated. Booze, drugs, unsafe sex., and more can be the medication of a person who’s frightened to discover that something is seriously wrong with their head. I had my own brush with alcoholism, but jumped off that cart fast.

Anyway, something to ponder. take care!