This kind of blows my mind. Like, I'm not surprised, it just goes against all I know about healing - But I know why, too. At a certain level (some more conscious than others), people believe addicts deserve to suffer. Even the people working in those facilities - Sometimes especially those people. But it's so wrong. we know a lot more about addiction now, family history, environmental factors, psychological factors - It's not just a "this is this person's own fault". And even if it was, so what? Some idiot breaks their leg doing something stupid, we don't fucking poke at it, or leave their food out of reach so that they have to shuffle over to it. anyways, that was just what came to mind as I was reading your message.Rehab SUCKS. I've been to the best and the worst and they're all fucking miserable. THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE
I know people who have worked at rehabs; I shot a pilot at a rehab. There's a surprising number of employees that were, at one point, patients. Reading the above you can grasp why; reading the above you can appreciate their utility. It gives them a useful well of empathy from which to draw. It's a difficult dichotomy, though. Part of the 12-step mantra is that you, as an individual, are powerless. Part of the solution is that you, as an individual, need to reclaim some power. This results in a philosophy where the good things that happen to you are because of fate but the bad things that happen to you are due to your fucking up. Recovered addicts end up with a refined appreciation for addiction. They can also end up with an impressive self-loathing streak. You have never met a fat-hater quite like a formerly-fat person... and you have never met a bigot quite like a closet homosexual. "There but for the grace of God go I."