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The Hidden Grief of Loving Someone with Addiction
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The Hidden Grief of Loving Someone with Addiction
Addiction touches so many families. It certainly did mine.
This week’s IMA webinar with Dr. Molly Rutherford and Dr. Ryan Cole explored the emerging conversation around psychedelics in medicine, including their potential role in treating addiction, PTSD, depression and trauma. As always with IMA, the discussion was balanced, thoughtful and informative.
Dr. Cole also shared his own positive experience using ketamine, under medical supervision, years ago when he was suffering from deep depression after a concussion.
This topic is personal for me.
My mother was a beautiful, vibrant, dedicated nurse, and she became addicted to strong painkillers. She died at just 63, but in many ways, we lost her about ten years before that.
Addiction changed her personality completely. She went from lively and motivated to secretive, volatile and unpredictable.
I never stopped loving her, but I did stop trusting her.
As teenagers, we rarely brought friends home because we never knew who we were going to find, my mum on a high, spaced out, or not herself at all.
At 15, I remember trying to advocate for her with a doctor, explaining her addiction and asking for help. He simply said there was nothing they could do.
That is an awful thing to hear.
My dad tried everything, private appointments, psychologists, retreats — but nothing helped for long. Looking back as an adult, I can see the toll it took on all of us, especially her. Addiction robbed us of her, and robbed her of her happiness.
I am never ashamed to speak about my mother or her addiction. I hope being open helps others know there is no shame in our struggles, our families, or our flaws.
That’s why I welcome serious, responsible conversations about new approaches, including psychedelics used carefully and under medical supervision. If these discussions can open doors and offer people more options, then they matter.
You can watch the webinar here:
https://imahealth.org/psychedelics-in-medicine-curiosity-caution/Dr. Rutherford brings such a warm, patient-centred approach, and Dr. Cole is, as always, informed, open and willing to ask important questions.
Have you had to deal with addiction in your family — and do you think medicine needs to be more open to new treatment options?
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