Addiction - Jezebel

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Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
DJ Am's Addiction Series To Premiere Next Week
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ArtfulSlinger
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
I have a few friends who have battled the addiction to heroin for years, but it wasn't until the recent overdose of another friend that my friend Jim* really understood the need to stay clean. They might have felt hurt or guilty, that he was spending more time on their sobriety then his own, but probably not betrayed. Addicts understand the battle more than anyone else.
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taryn up my heart
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
He must have felt so guilty during filming if he was trying to battle his demons while trying to help these other people. I can't imagine having to face your own problems in other people while trying to hide them from the world.

As for how the participants feel, I doubt it's betrayed. His death probably showed them that addiction really is a difficult thing to overcome. I bet it gave them more of a reason to continue their battle.
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bess marvin, girl detective
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
some people's lot in life is to serve as a warning to others.
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BeckySharper
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
I agree with those who say that these addicts shouldn't feel personally betrayed. If anything it's just a warning how hard sobriety is, and how the danger of relapse never truly goes away.

I really respect AM for making this series. It makes me so sad to think that his coming back into contact with the world of addiction may have been the trigger that prompted his own relapse.
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PaintedTrollop
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
One of the first things all addicts should learn is that relapse can happen at any moment - to anyone. It's likely that these folks are terrified (as they should be) by what happened to AM, but it doesn't have to happen to them. They should think of it this way - he went out and did this, so they don't have to.
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Bgirl_Hamster
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
What's striking to me is that she seems pretty coherent in the first clip. I assume she's using at that point, but she comes across as pretty "normal" looking, depressed, but normal. I don't have much experience with users of hard drugs, but the one person I knew was using behaved in such a manner that his addiction was pretty pronounced.
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cirocco
10/13/09

@Bgirl_Hamster: It depends a lot on the drug, in my experience. People who are into stimulants and hallucinogens usually behave erratically, but those on opiates often come across as simply "depressed, but normal." Hell, I don't think most of Rush Limbaugh's listeners noticed anything amiss when he was putting away enough oxy to stun a mule. (Then again, that was Limbaugh...)
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Princess Leela
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
I could see feeling very, very discouraged, but betrayed? My guess is that most of these people know better than to judge others, given how much they've probably been judged along the way. And they alone know how powerful the demons can be. It seems to me that by her example, Amy is carrying on the work DJ AM left unfinished, which is the greatest gift anyone can hand on to someone who is suffering just like them ...
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Edited by Princess Leela at 10/13/09 2:00 PM Princess Leela was starred Princess Leela was unstarred

bluebears
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
I think addicts, more than anyone else, understand what its like to struggle with your addictions and ultimately give in. I would be surprised if they feel personally betrayed.
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LaComtesse
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
I'd understand it, but this isn't something they can/should take personally. As they learn more and more about addiction and their own addictions, they will realize the very real threat they all face when it comes to relapse, in spite of huge leaps forward and years of effort. It's unfortunate, but it happens. Hopefully, they will have empathy in that way rather than feelings of betrayal.

Even Jeff, my favorite interventionist from "Intervention" relapsed recently after YEARS of sobriety.
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Caitastrophe
10/13/09

@LaComtesse: Jeff Van Vonderen relapsed?! I did not know that. He is my favorite too...better than over-involved Candy Finnegan by far. You could even say I love him like crazy...anything the other interventionists say is just noise
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BeckySharper
10/13/09

@LaComtesse: Jeff? Really? Is he okay?
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LaComtesse
10/13/09

@Caitastrophe: Yeah, it's why he wasn't around too much a couple seasons ago. He was in treatment; he’s doing better now though, apparently.

Yeah, I really like him, though I think the show is pretty good with putting the right interventionist with the right addict/family. I like Jeff because he’s usually placed with the addicts who have deluded themselves into thinking they’re smarter than all other addicts, they’re not an addict, or they don’t need help and are more hostile than most. I remember one particular episode (Chad, I believe) who said "I love living on the streets" to which Jeff goes "You are so full of shit."

Candy goes with the tragic cases/cases wherein the family is super-duper involved. Ken goes with people who usually have an accompanying mental illness (usually drug related). At least this is the pattern I’ve noticed.
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thecameralovesyou
10/13/09

@BeckySharper: I remember he talked about his relapse on an update show, where there was a host and they had a studio audience. It was great because he was so honest about it and said, it's an everday struggle, and he was back in treatment to help him through. I love that man.
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esthergreenwood
10/13/09

In reply to Gone Too Far: Do The Addicts DJ AM Helped Feel Betrayed By His Death?
I have respect for Adam's family for allowing MTV to air this.
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
10/07/09

In reply to DJ Am's Addiction Series To Premiere Next Week
*sighs*
*turns MTV back on*
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Edited by Rooo sez BISH PLZ at 10/07/09 2:50 PM Rooo sez BISH PLZ was starred

thecameralovesyou
10/07/09

In reply to DJ Am's Addiction Series To Premiere Next Week
Not much else to say other than how sad this is. The fact that he had conquered his addiction for 11 years and now he's gone. I hope the show does end up helping others, like he wanted it to.
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largirl
10/07/09

@thecameralovesyou: I had no idea he'd been sober for so long. Does anyone know how/why he went back to it? I think it's brilliant (smart, wonderful, generous) to show the episode, because it will really show that being sober isn't something you can take for granted, even after a decade.
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BeckySharper
10/07/09

@thecameralovesyou: I think his family did the right thing, and I really feel for them. One of the most terrifying things about loving someone with an addiction is that you live in fear that this will happen--just when they think they've conquered the addiction...fatal relapse.
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formergr
10/07/09

@largirl: My brother relapsed (drugs and alcohol) after 10 years of sobriety, and for no particular reason. It's been about 4 years now, and he's still not sober I don't think.
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boxspelunker
08/31/09

In reply to When Is It Okay To Write About Your Family?
I had a lot of problems as a teenager. The majority of them were compounded by my mother's nosiness and unwillingness to try to understand.

I struggled with my gender identity (and here, I bitterly laugh, as I still do, but I have found somewhat healthier ways), and she rooted through everything I wrote, forbid me from seeing my absolute best friend (who was also my girlfriend, which while she didn't know, she suspected and used this as a basis). I had my last suicide attempt at about 16.

If my mother wrote about that and broadcast it to the world, I am fairly certain I would stop speaking to her. I would want nothing to do with someone who wanted to profit off my pain. It was an awful period of my life, and while I'm certain it was no picnic for my mom, it's not her story to tell. It is mine. And I do tell it; it's not a huge secret. But I control who knows and what they know the best that I can, and if she were to publish it, that steals any power I have to protect myself away from me.

It's wrong, plain and simple. It is obscene, and I feel for this kid.
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Chamalla,barren crone
08/31/09

In reply to When Is It Okay To Write About Your Family?
"Americans won't rush in and judge me."
Heh. Wanna bet she rethinks that?
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Norton
08/31/09

In reply to When Is It Okay To Write About Your Family?
My favorite part is how Jake, who is a straight-A student, has his father pushing his school to fail him to show him what pot is "doing to him."

Jake sure was a terror, alright.
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