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Since 2000, white working-class Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 have been one of the only demographics in the world that has seen its life expectancy fa

Since 2000, white working-class Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 have been one of the only demographics in the world that has seen its life expectancy fall. These deaths are mostly suicides. Some are officially blamed on alcoholism and addiction, but that’s just suicide in slow motion. As an recovered addict/alcoholic I've heard every sad story in the book. If you find yourself similarly trapped in the personal drama of substance use disorder, know that in your neighborhood there is likely a 12 step meeting with free coffee and cookies where people will greet you and even get you to have a laugh at your common predicament. As my buddy Jimmy B used to tell me "you're a special case of the same old thing". Don't listen to the do gooders who feel sorry for you because that sh*t is deadly.

kar5pt 4y ago
12 steps work great for a lot of people, but we need to be careful not to push the narrative that it's a cure-all for addiction. 12 steppers often act like it is and blame the addict for not trying hard enough if the 12 steps don't work for them. The latest research shows that at best it works for 1/3 of addicts/alcoholics. This makes sense since mental illness is complicated and we wouldn't expect a single treatment to work for everybody. What we really need is better research to develop treatment methods that don't require people to essentially join a new religion and devote 5-10 hours of volunteer participation for the rest of their lives (I think it's understandable that not everyone wants to adopt this lifestyle). I fear that the "12 steps for everybody" model of addiction treatment gets in the way of that.