RIP Amy Winehouse

Good post.

 

My study says it's 107 percent righter. derrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

Good post.

 

What?

 

Except people who suffer from depression didn't choose to start being depressed in the first place. Addicts choose to start.

 

And then, my empathy is going to be quite limited. Simple enough.

That's not really that important here. The significant part is what you do about it.

 

I think there are a lot of great points being made here, despite some of the tone, but say simply this:

Yes, addicts choose to start. But particularly when it comes to alcohol, they choose to start because it's legal, socially acceptable and the "in" thing to do.

By the time a person who might have an addictive personality with regard to alcohol figures it out, it's no longer nearly as simple as, "addicts choose to stop."

That's all I'm saying.

Once you get into serious illegal drugs, the "addicts choose to start" obviously has another dimension.

 

They also often start as teenagers. Kind of young to heap a lot of "you made a dumb mistake" criticism on them.

 

And not everyone has a choice. My late sister was born to a drug-addicted mother and was essentially addicted from birth. Watching her struggles was painful because she was one of the most inherently good people I've ever known.

My sympathies and condolences to Ms. Winehouse's friends and family. From experience I know they'll never stop questioning what they could have done differently.

 

It's a simplistic view, your experience notwithstanding. How do people recover from addiction, even those who had prenatal exposure to drugs? I think those who give up drugs would say they made the choice not to do them anymore.

Having a choice doesn't mean there isn't a strong "urge" or whatever you call it to make a bad one.

 

There are varying degrees of addiction and varying degrees of the ability to fight it.

 

Was talking about this earlier today. If you believe there's no choice involved, then what hope do you have? Even those in the worst circumstances can beat addiction. Having said that, HC's example is one of many that illustrate that addiction is not a simple black-and-white issue. If addiction was that easy to figure out, it wouldn't be such a motherfucker for so many people.