The World According To G!rL

One of the hardest things to listen to the addict say, is that no one understands unless they are an addict too. . . except they have no idea how their addiction effects those closest to them. They don't realize that the people closest to them, their family, and friends are going through the addiction and dealing with the addiction right along side the addict.

Parents of an addict have it really rough. They can't do much other than just sit back and watch their child slowly kill themselves. . .what a horrible thing to have to watch. They deal with the addict stealing from them to feed the addiction. . .The parents watch as their child goes in and out of jail. . .begging to be bailed out.

The younger siblings watch their big sister/brother completely throw their life away. At such a young age they watch the addict taken out of the home in handcuffs by a sheriff. They watch the addict be kicked out of the home and placed in a youth home, left there while the rest of the family tries to keep life going. They get phone calls in the middle of the night from the addict while they are high/drunk/stoned. . .whatever. . . they have to listen to the addict say how they want to change so bad, when it's just the drugs talking. . .because it happens OVER & OVER. . . they stop trusting the addict. The young siblings are the ones who go over to babysit the addict when they've been using. . .they are the ones that take the addict to the hospital to get fixed up when they've hurt themselves while using. They get yelled at and cursed at and told that they don't care about the addict. . .even when they do everything in their power to help the addict, or be supportive, or encouraging.

The addicts child(ren) suffers so deeply. They get taken away from their mother/father. The child raises the addict instead of being raised by a parent. The child gets themselves up in the morning, they feed themselves, they get themselves off to school. They sit and listen to their parents scream at each other, or hit each other. . .

The addict is NOT alone in their addiction, they don't deal with it by themselves. . .