How does addiction affect the relationships around you? by Hannah Juckett

David Sheff

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-02 15:23:29 UTC

David Sheff is the author of the New York times bestselling book Beautiful Boy: A fathers journey Through His Sons Addiction, and many others. Beautiful boy was based off an article he wrote for the New York times called "My Addicted Son". He was born in Boston in 1955. He wrote this book because his son Nic, who had been a consistant addict most of his life. Nic began to struggle with addiction at 11 years old, by 18, he had spiraled into crystal meth. Throughout the years of his addiction, David tried to get him as much help as possible but Nic denied it and proceeded to get worse. As a result of this, David writes this book, Beautiful Boy as an outlet to the personal struggles he was dealing with at home. Nic Sheff actually worked with his father to write an informational book on drugs and alcohol which was published in 2019. Nic has also published two of his own books-- both New York Times best seller called Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines and We All Fall Down: Living With Addiction. David also founded the Beautiful Boy fund-- which gathers research on substance-use disorders and ways to aid the addicted. He has received tons of awards now for the sheer research and aid that hes provided for the addict community. He has written for newspaper after newspaper and has even interviewed John Lennon. Yoko Ono, and many more prominent faces. Overall he deserves all the credit in the world for the help he has provided by speaking out about his own struggles and he help he has provided to everyone in need. Written by Sanjay Gupta, "David Sheff knows addiction as no parent would ever want. Through it all, he’s tapped into a unique ability to convey the pain, wisdom and love that he’s experienced through many turbulent years with his son Nic. As a journalist, father and clear-eyed chronicler of addiction, David is without peer."

Time and Setting

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-02 15:29:02 UTC

Beautiful Boy was published in 2008. Since it is practically David and Nic's autobiography it was written in present tense based in the early 2000's throughout the years of Nic growing up and throughout his older years as his addiction worsened. The setting of this book takes place in California for the most part. When Nic was born, David and his first wife Vic lived in Berkeley. Once they seperated Vicki moved to Los Angeles, and David moved him and Nic to Inverness, where he remarried to a woman named Karen. Nic attended high school in California which he graduated. When writing the book, David kept it close to home by basing it completely on where he lived in California and his town.

My Text

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-02 15:30:00 UTC

Non-Fiction Connection

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-03 15:03:59 UTC

The production and distribution of methamphetamine has greatly emerged over the past 25 years. It has been considered "America's most dangerous drug". Since meth is such a volatile drug, its ability to use varies from smoked, snorted, injected, and taken orally. The "rush" Meth provides users lasts for 8-12 hours. Once a user is addicted to meth, they face the consequences that come with having a twisted reality. To be the parent witnessing their child spiral into a hard addiction is the hardest thing someone can experience. They have a front row seat to their child falling victim to this dangerous drug. Obviously, being the parent you want to do everything you can to help your child recover from this addiction, but by trying to provide help it may provide a bigger spiral. When you the people around you are addicted, its frustrating to deal with their outbursts and having the ability to stay calm and not lash out at them. Not only do the addicts destroy themselves in the procress of using, they destroy everyone around them as well. Once family members and loved ones realize the damage they've done trying to get help for the addict, it causes detachment as a sign of giving up.

Art Connection

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-06 17:38:03 UTC

This art by Stephen Sawyer perfectly portrays the lengths that loved ones will go for the addicts that surround them. By trying to save them from their emimate doom you tear yourself apart. The more time you spend worrying about their well-being the more your ruining yourself. All that loved ones want to do is provide help for the addicted, but by putting yourself in the position of being that close to them, how does that affect you? Would you rather destroy yourself in the process of trying to fix them, not knowing if it would even work, or let them fall into that hole. In this poster, the male in white is attempting to prevent the injection of the man in the black. We can also see a plethora of cigarettes in the tray, heroine lined up to snort/inject, a glass filled with alcohol and lastly, a revolver. The evolution of worse to worser that we see layed on the table is a good metaphor for the path that addicts head down as they get continue to fall deeper and deeper into their addiction.

Poetry Connection

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-13 17:53:19 UTC

This poem by Charles Bukowski outlines the addiction that drugs and alcohol have on people. In multiple interviews, Nic Sheff stated that if he were to kill himself he would allow the drugs to do it and he accepted that was how he was going to die. In this poem, it states, "Death doesn't always come running when you call it-- not even if you call it from a shining castle..." This line highlights that even when Nic claimed he wanted to die from the drugs he consumed, that wouldn't always work out in his favor. The epidemic that is drugs and alcohol has stemmed for years and has evolved into what it is today. The more you drink and the more you use the more addicted you get. The more addicted you get, the more you seperate yourself from the life you had to be able to adapt to your new life based around addiction. Adapting a new life to fit an addiction creates such a wormhole for the people who you see everyday. The people that you have close relationships with are going to want to provide you help meanwhile your pushing them all away for your addiction because you believe you don't need help.

Visual Connection

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-13 17:53:42 UTC

This ted talk highlights the "ripple" effect that addiction has on you and the people around you. His analogy is that when a rock hits still water, it ripples causing a domino effect from one event to another. His story is that his uncle was a heroin addict, which caused him to be arrested and his cousins moved in with him. This was the ripple effect in motion. His uncle being an addict caused an eruption of pain in his family that affected everyone. The stories he heard about the treatment his cousins endured from their father caused Brennan deep anger inside because he couldn't believe that a member of his own family possessed the ability to be such a monster. The pain and anger that Brennan had built up against his uncle caused him to not feel hurt once he finally passed away. He felt a final ripple of relief knowing that his cousins would never have to endure that pain again. That addiction that his uncle had caused a tear in all the relationships he had up until the day he died. His addiction made him angry and he took that anger out on his children which strained their relationship to the point they were forced to move out. The damage he did to his family caused them to feel more relief than sorrow once he had passed. This is the consequence of his action.

Movie Connection

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-13 17:54:04 UTC

The movie Beautiful Boy was depicted from the book as an adaptation to put the beautiful writing by David Sheff into picture. The movie displays the methamphetamine addiction that Nic Sheff develops throughout his teenage years and into his early 20s. His addiction progressively gets worse as his father, David Sheff tries to get him as much help as possible. As he continues to deny the help and dig a deeper hole for his life. The hold that drugs has on him causes such a gap between him and the people who care for him. His dad tried to do everything in his power to help him by offering him rehab and Nic managed to get clean for short amounts of time but it never lasted. He ruined relationships with significant others, his father, his fathers wife, and even his younger siblings. By continuing to relapse, his closest relationship, the one he has with his father is ruined. By having an addiction so severe, he ripped apart his relationships till the last straw.

Book Connection

hjuckett2024 — 2024-05-13 17:54:17 UTC

Nic Sheff, the son of David Sheff wrote this book about his own experiences regarding his addiction with methamphetamines. When Nic was 11, he drank for the first time and instantly regretted it. At age 12 he began to smoke weed, and never stopped. Throughout highschool he still smoked regularly but still was able to be accepted to many prestigious schools. He goes on to give a play by play of his life with addiction and the path that he travelled down while using. He explains the way he felt after his first high and the reason he continued to use for years after that was because he was chasing that original high. He wanted that feeling again. The grasp that crystal meth had on him was irreplaceable. He dropped out of college for it, got kicked out, and began to break into his fathers home to steal money just to supply his cravings. The damage he put his family through because of this disease wasn't fixable. His little siblings watched him get arrested all because of this. The imprint he left in their heads will stick with them because of their age.