Faces Of Addiction

[MA-Caver]

Didn't put this in the study because not really wanting discussion as more of wanting thoughts.

Read through entire slide-show, try not to pass judgement til done... For me a lot of it hits too damned close to home.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-10011486.html?tag=page

 

[WC_lun]

Its sad. These are people the same as any of the rest of us, but with a failing or two that causes them to waste away what they were or would ever be.

 

[seasoned]

Didn't put this in the study because not really wanting discussion as more of wanting thoughts.

Speechless, sad, dumbfounded, angry, sick, sorry, caring, hard to understand.

After looking at and reading each and every one of the pictures and captions, what hit me the hardest, was the fact that this could happen to me, or someone I know, or anybody for that matter. I guess what I'm saying is, life is hard and unforgiving, and if you let your guard down, and give up, any void you create could be filled with this type of despair. As I read, I got the feeling that no one is immune to this, and under the right circumstances along with dire situations, a perfect storm could create a downward spiral imposable to dig out of..............

 

[Jenna]

It frustrates me that ordinary people feel that their options are reduced to one. There are always options in every situation, and but the problem is that it is often impossible for us in a dire situation to perceive those options.

These people, like you and me, sometimes have unforseen bad situations forced upon them. However it is always our own choice how to deal with those situations. If we do not apprehend the full extent of the options available to us and think our only recourse is to drugs, crime, prostitution or even self harm and suicide then we have allowed ourselves to become victims to bad situations that really could give no thought for us. I wish I could show each one of these people their options. Maybe the best any of us can do is to know our own options first and to share the availability of options with those who are in dire circumstances that are in our reach.

Ultimately though I think there is nobody who is beyond the reach of any of us with a genuine heart to care. I think it depends upon the length that we can manage to stretch our arms.

Thank you for posting.

 

[elder999]

As much as these faces convey, it's important to remember that the areas where these photos were taken-Hunt's Point, for example-represent a geographic and demographic bottom of the barrel.

Ray Charles was also "the face of addiction," for nearly twenty years. For a long time, Robert Downey, Jr. was the face of addiction.David Hasselhof, Amy Winehouse, Ben Afleck, Michael Douglas, Dick Cheney and George Bush have all been the face of addiction.

It you want scary, one of my coworkers and one of my bosses at the nuclear power plant were the face of addiction-one of them was a heroin addict who eventually lost his job, and wound up getting clean and being a drug counselor.

You can be addicted to food, sex-I'm addicted to air, and will likely die of a lack of it :lol:-and, of course, drugs and booze.


This is the face of addiction:





My feelings? Those photos make me very sad-so do obese people, especially at the all you can eat Chinese buffet. We all have at least one self destructive tendency, and some of us just can't resist it-they're seeking their destruction through dissolution-an annihilation of all that they feel, through other feelings.

My thoughts? Pretty much the same. It's just that so many-though not percentage wise-manage to live with their addiction without succumbing to self-destructive tendencies-to be functional addicts. An even smaller percentage manage to break free of their addiction-to live with it without whatever it is they're addicted to. Of course, those people have resources and support-they either have money to support their habit and just enough self control not to die from it, or getting free of it.

Addicts in Hunt's Point and places like it don't have any of those things, and probably never did.

 

[Jenna]

As much as these faces convey, it's important to remember that the areas where these photos were taken-Hunt's Point, for example-represent a geographic and demographic bottom of the barrel.

Ray Charles was also "the face of addiction," for nearly twenty years. For a long time, Robert Downey, Jr. was the face of addiction.David Hasselhof, Amy Winehouse, Ben Afleck, Michael Douglas, Dick Cheney and George Bush have all been the face of addiction.

It you want scary, one of my coworkers and one of my bosses at the nuclear power plant were the face of addiction-one of them was a heroin addict who eventually lost his job, and wound up getting clean and being a drug counselor.

You can be addicted to food, sex-I'm addicted to air, and will likely die of a lack of it :lol:-and, of course, drugs and booze.


This is the face of addiction:

View attachment 16174



My feelings? Those photos make me very sad-so do obese people, especially at the all you can eat Chinese buffet. We all have at least one self destructive tendency, and some of us just can't resist it-they're seeking their destruction through dissolution-an annihilation of all that they feel, through other feelings.

My thoughts? Pretty much the same. It's just that so many-though not percentage wise-manage to live with their addiction without succumbing to self-destructive tendencies-to be functional addicts. An even smaller percentage manage to break free of their addiction-to live with it without whatever it is they're addicted to. Of course, those people have resources and support-they either have money to support their habit and just enough self control not to die from it, or getting free of it.

Addicts in Hunt's Point and places like it don't have any of those things, and probably never did.

That is an excellent point about the photographer bias. Though every individual addict has their own set of mental and physiological circumstances, I would group many celebrity addicts into self-destructive modes of addiction and abuse. I think much of this stems from the inability to attribute or draw out appropriate levels of self-worth to such levels of celebrity. That is my theory. Except Charlie Sheen. I blame that on aliens.

 

[MA-Caver]

I don't think that the photographer was intentionally being biased. Yes there are other faces of addiction and other types.
However you can go to almost any major/minor city in America and see these same faces.
Elder, I know/respect you so I'm not ranting against what you had to say. I can accept your view point that oh these poor people seem to find enough to support their drugs but not food or shelter.
Respectfully... have you been addicted? To drugs not to (ha ha ) air ? Probably not, hopefully not. You probably know folks who have an addiction and see their sorry state. But when you actually go through it and feel it (hope you never will) it's difficult to grasp the hold it has.
Drugs, alcohol also help people FORGET. That one fella who killed his father... said "I drink to forget"... must be some horrific memories where daily/constant inebriation is required to block out the echos of the screams and the terror he grew up with.
It's a tough cycle to get out of once you fall into it. When all of your resources are dried up, family and friends turn their backs on you because they've been burned by your burnt-out sincere promises.

I'm just saying, that I do agree 99% of them put themselves where they are. A small minority succeed in pulling themselves out. I did, after a long painful struggle. But honestly, I'm still teetering on the edge. Main problem is consistent employment.
As far as my addiction(s) go... well in-so-far-so-good.

 

[Flea]

So many "faces of addiction" stories stray into editorializing with contempt or pity. I really like how respectful this author is.

 

[elder999]

I don't think that the photographer was intentionally being biased. Yes there are other faces of addiction and other types.
However you can go to almost any major/minor city in America and see these same faces.
Elder, I know/respect you so I'm not ranting against what you had to say. I can accept your view point that oh these poor people seem to find enough to support their drugs but not food or shelter.
Respectfully... have you been addicted?

No, I have what a psychiatrist (used to have to see one twice a year because of my job) has described as a "non-addictive" personality. I drink, I get drunk, but it's not an every day thing or a weekend-binge thing-I control my "habits," they don't control me. If I'm addicted to anything (besides air) it's probably exercise-but that's more of a lifetime habit born of a real lack of choice-if I didn't exercise, I'd have been dead a long time ago, I think.


So, no,I've never been addicted, but I've been around enough addicts-seen friends and relatives struggle with their habits-some got free, and some got destroyed. Watched someone I loved become another person altogether, struggle free of herself back to who she was and then kill herself in despair. I understand and respect your viewpoint, but I think you've missed what I was saying:no, I've never been addicted, but I've been to the Bronx-I've been to Hunt's Point, in the Bronx,and those people really do represent something below what most people think of as "the bottom," below the "labels" of prostitute, street-walker, homeless, or addict.

For some-like the NY cops I knew who worked in that area-they really do represent something subhuman- by virtue of where they are-whatever their sad and all too human story might be.

As far as my addiction(s) go... well in-so-far-so-good.

Good. :asian:

 

[Buka]

So sad. The biggest problem with addiction is this -

"It can't happen to me. I won't let it. I'm too strong/smart/whatever. And my folks raised me right"

Un huh.

 

[K-man]

These are people who have fallen through the rather course safety net that is social security. It is easy to judge a society by how it manages to care for its most needy people.