Quote from: Devlyn Marie on June 11, 2016, 06:02:20 PM
Addiction is the "disease of denial"
It sounds like you're assigning a character fault to what is actually a symptom of the disease.
I represent people in Social Security disability claims. It's not uncommon to see various mental illnesses which have been self-medicated, or cocaine addicts who have fried their hearts, or alcoholics who have destroyed their livers, or generally any of the people who have proven their doctors right one way or another. I get to see hundreds or thousands of pages of medical records with urine drug screens, blood tests, comments from doctors, and generally know exactly what I'm dealing with in excruciating detail. There's often an underlying condition or a "damage is done" situation so I can still work with what I've got. I'm quite happy to look past addiction in considering whether or not somebody is disabled. Before the hearing I tell all my clients exactly what the judge knows, I usually show them the actual medical records, and stress the importance of owning it to build credibility because if a judge catches you in one lie under oath we know the judge won't ever believe anything else you say. And then there are the guys with back problems and a simply irrelevant alcohol addiction, where I tell them openly that the only reason it's even going to come up is so the judge can decide if he's being honest. Criminal records are brought up for about the same reason.
This is where the problem starts. About two thirds of the addicts I deal with then absolutely insist on destroying their credibility by committing perjury rather than agreeing with their medical records. We're not talking about simply lying or minimizing here, but somebody being stupid enough to knowingly and intentionally commit a crime simply to spite themselves. It's bad enough when the substance abuse is at least relevant, but the guy with back problems lying about his alcohol consumption is just determined to be caught lying for no apparent reason. About half of those get out of the hearing and earn some brownie points for apologizing for committing perjury, but the rest are just...
Now, show me an addict who will admit the problem, talk honestly about mistakes made and lessons learned--even if that journey isn't complete--and we can often actually do something for that person. I can still win their claim if somebody says, "I snorted cocaine last night," it just means they'll have a friend or family member to help them manage their money. I get this kind of honesty about a third of the time and I'm thrilled when it happens.
So when I say that all I want out of addicts is honesty, and that I'm disappointed by how seldom I get it, I've got a painful track record on the subject.
