What no one tells you about burnout when loving someone with addiction

Rear view of an elderly mother comforting her daughter at home.

Addiction acts as a wrecking ball not only for the life of the person struggling but to their entire family unit. Author David Sheff summed up the experience in his memoir “Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction”: “Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.”

Originally published on americanaddictioncenters.org, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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