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This is fundamentally incorrect. by Papa November

Anyone who works with trauma and addiction for a living, myself included, would tell you that Todd no more had a choice about using than he did as a child about fighting.

It doesn't matter that your logical, rational mind can point to what appears to be a moment of choice. The series of dominos that had fallen in the subconscious mind prior to that seeming choice will have already made the choice for Todd well before that moment.

Every now and then someone is able to exert an iron will and push against the forces of the subconscious. This is called white knuckling it. And it's a recipe for disaster. When an alcoholic is not receiving treatment, but is able to resist drinking, that person is considered a dry drunk. They aren't drinking, but the disease is still active and progressing. They can go thirty years without a drink, but if they are white knuckling it and not receiving treatment, then a single drink is enough to put them into an emotional and physical state that's as if they had been drinking all along.

Most of what drives even disease free people is unconscious. It's much more so with addiction.

So no, Todd did not make poor choices. He was driven to them by a horribly abusive father. But, it WAS Todd's responsibility to eventually make a change and seek help. He finally did. His is a massive success story.