I just want to add something about the shame we as families feel when there is an addict in the family. After my youngest brother died, my parents didn’t want anyone to know how he had died, so I had to lie to friends and family and say that he died from a heart attack! So as well as the grief and guilt, we can add shame to the list. There is definitely a stigma to having an addict in the family,.. were they brought up badly? were they neglected ? Have you tried everything to help them?. In our family it just wasn’t talked about unless there was a crisis and boy, my youngest brother dying was a big crisis, my mother just completely fell apart and never recovered and for the first time ever I saw my father cry, but still nobody talked about the elephant in the room which was that my brother was still an addict and my youngest brothers death had just made him spiral down out of control.
