R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman
Out of context: Reply #115
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- d_rek0
_niko
My Dad ran the gamut of professional and freely available social services: professional psychiatric care, NA, AA, etc...
The problem is that these type of services and care require a huge, diligent effort from both recovering addicts and their immediate family/friends. Professional help is costly and not always effective. There is no magic formula or zen doctor that is going to 'enlighten' a previous addict into never wanting to use again. An social programs like NA quickly become routine for people who have been in and out of them.
And, as was the case with my Dad, the whole 'seeking help' thing becomes very passé. They start to think that "I've been here, done that, and there isn't much left for me here so I might as well stop going and and talking to someone, doing 12 steps, etc."
PHS could have been having the worlds best treatment for his 23 years of sobriety. But one day where he goes "You know what I think i'm about done with this" is all it would take for them to slip.
You have to understand that substance addiction care and therapy requires a TREMENDOUS amount of resources - emotionally, temporally, and financially. Once one or the other is not there to support a recovering addict it becomes very, very easy for them to slip and relapse.