Recently, I had to make the decision (preference) to leave my job and forget about pursuing my doctorate studies to save my seventeen year old daughter, who suffers from drug induced psychosis. How the effects of her drug and alcohol addiction (failing school, cutting, paranoia, attempting suicide), on the emotional life of the mother, grandmother, and aunt can drag down even the strongest of women, and bring about surprising decisions for the woman as well as the child who is struggling with addictive behaviors. Yet, there are opportunities that arise from spending time in the emotional world of the addictive child: learning what brought about the addictions or acting-out behaviors and working through those to the closer bond between mother and child.

Subsequently, most women would not have the resources or mental fortitude having to deal with addiction in her own family or intimate circles. We live in a hurried and harried throw-away world of Western society. The don’t-give-a-damn world of materialism and ego in American cities and society and how it contrasts to the slower and closer-to-the-land life of rural communities. We still have those in America, but they are becoming more and more commercialized with the emphasis on “new” and “modern” causing society to move further away from core family values.

I have since moved my daughter and I to Umbria, Italy, in a small farm community far away from the pull of negative influences to start again. She is surrounded by people who love her and who want to help in meeting her needs, including a doctor to manage her depression.