by Linda DahlOriginal Source: thefix.comI flounder in the pain of betrayal when my few pieces of “good” jewelry disappear, my bank account is emptied, the police call in the middle of the night – always in the middle of the night.You can’t help them. This defeatist caveat about trying to help people with addiction is alive and well, though it ill serves the swelling ranks of desperate loved ones. During a recent NPR interview, Sigrid Rausing, the author of Mayhem, (yet) another memoir about family members struggling with addiction--in this case Rausing’s extremely wealthy brother and his first wife-- repeated this questionable mantra. Ms. Rausing seemed like a kind person, but there it was: you can’t help them. I have been hearing this clap-trap since I got into recovery forty-plus years ago. They have to hit their bottom. They have to want to get sober. And it’s tempting to think so, since so many people with addiction don’t recover. But that ignores the 23 million-plus individuals who...click here to continue reading