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If you have never experienced addiction, it can be hard to understand what people really go through. It is easy to blame addicts, but no one wakes up one day wanting to be addicted. They face battles everyday. And so to those around them. A study from 2010 shows that over 23.5 million Americans are addicted to drugs and alcohol. But only 1 in 10 Americans receives the treatment they need. And as of 2014, there were only around 14,000 treatment centers nationwide, not enough compared to the size of the problem.
#RecoveryinMerced addiction addictts children of addiction drug addiction recovery spotlight youthLongtime residents in the City of Merced are quick to comment on the rapid decay seen in some neighborhoods around town. The blight -- often a result of drug use and related activities -- is concentrated in South Merced, near Highway 99 where many of the city’s low-income and minority communities have historically lived. “If you don’t know about 16th Street, that’s where all the prostitutes are, that’s where everything that you don’t ever want your children to see, happens,” Anna said.
addiction mental health recovery recovery in Merced spotlight substance abuseHe was always super fun to be around, one of the kindest and open-minded people I knew, but then he changed. I remember the last day I saw him he was a completely different person. He was unrecognizable. No longer happy. Always mad. I could not understand why he didn’t want to be himself anymore.
Lights out mental health mental illness schizophrenia spotlight youthI’ve seen the effects of not getting help for mental illness first hand and it's no joke. It's very sad to see. One day a friend may be behaving normally and the next they can fall apart. What makes it worse is that sometimes you don’t even know what's going on or how to help.
health mental health mental illness spotlight StigmaMy foster home was not the best. It felt like they didn’t really care about me either. I had no clothes and had to wear their four-year-old daughters clothes.
abuse foster care foster care system foster kid spotlight traumaI also thought that the minimal anticipatory grief I had allowed myself to experience, when he was battling cancer, was sufficient. ‘I should be done. These tears are helping no one,’ I thought. But I simply wasn’t “done” and squelching my tears only allowed the depression to surface in more sinister ways. I couldn’t fall asleep, I would spend days eating only sweets, and, most damaging of all, I felt utterly alone.
death grief mental health psychology spotlight