A reader writes:
My brother has been an addict for about half of his life; he started using drugs in high school and eventually did – and dealt – anything he had access to. My mother believes he was self medicating. Mental illnesses run on our father's side of the family. Sometime in his late teens to early twenties, he began dealing and using meth. Since our mother was/is his codependent, she slowly developed a satellite, also codependent, relationship with me – I provided emotional support for her as she financially supported him. As part of that role, I was manipulated into moving back home.
It was horrific. I will never be able to say that sentence enough to mentally acknowledge to myself the reality of what my family went through.
My brother verbally abused me every time he was down. He threatened to kill me frequently. He physically intimidated everyone and threw my father out of a chair. At halfway to the worst point, he date raped his girlfriend. I was the only witness, as I was in the next room. I went and got my father, who knocked on the door and asked what was going on (they had barricaded themselves in his bedroom.) My brother and his girlfriend left the house silently. I selfishly wonder why she never pressed charges. I will have to live with the sound of her begging him for rest of my life. I hope she has come to terms with worse. At rock bottom, few years later, he broke into the house and chased my mother out of it with a steak knife while screaming he was going to kill her. Finally, he was arrested by the DEA.
The Dish 