We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.

Openness is the first step toward recovery... addiction remains a secret because of the overwhelming shame associated with it.

Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good.

I am becoming used to an overwhelming, grinding mixture of anger and worry.

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.

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.

Why does it help to read others' stories? It is not only that misery loves company, because (I learned) misery is too self-absorbed to want much company. Others' experiences did help with my emotional struggle.