DJ AM dies

[rasputin]

Anything I write about addiction at twitter length is going to be 90% misleading or wrong at best. That said, a good way for people who say "no one's forcing you to take that drink/hit/etc/" to start to understand the addict is to consider them as suffering from a mental illness. You can't a full blown schizophrenic for freaking out/being freaked out by the world.

Since there is no "pill" for addiction, the best treatment is a combination of group support (e.g. AA) and expert counseling. But the addict has to WANT to control the disease and be WILLING, HONEST and OPENMINDED enough to really WORK at it. Then there is a chance. Lacking any of those 4 things though, the odds are small.

Anyway, there's a billion times more to the subject than that, but there's a start.

[Obvious Alias]

DJ AM will be missed. He was an extremely talented DJ. Not everyone digs his style, but he was a straight-up bad-ass. He also worked HARD to get where he was. He didn't just get famous for dating Nichole Ritchie. He put in the work. AM occasionally posted on the Serato Scratch Live forum and even though a lot of cats up there bashed him, he never once responded with negativity. He was always positive, upbeat, and extremely thankful for those that were fans. I have nothing but respect for him as a performer and DJ.

DJ A-Trak really does a nice tribute: http://djatrak.com/2009/08/30/remembering-dj-am/

I know that a lot of people will come down on the fact that he died of a drug overdose, but he was clean for 11 years, and in that time, he did a lot of charitable work trying to help others overcome their addictions. He never shyed away from his own battles with addiction, or how thankful he was to be alive. It is sad that his demons finally came back and that he couldn't fight them off.

I think that being one of only two survivors from that plane crash took a toll on him - often times the survivors blame themselves for the accident and for the death of the others involved, when in reality, there was no way that they could have known that the accident was coming or prevented it. I don't know if this was the case for AM, but many close to him have all said that he was very different after the crash, and even though he seemed joyful to be alive, he seemed troubled under the surface.

Rest in peace, Adam.

[Machinesworking]

when you know someone who is dying from an addiction and you pour your heart and soul into helping only for them to chew it up and spit and out and steal from you, then you'll wake up and realize that those were wasted efforts. nothing can help them but themselves. if they do receive help it's because they WANT to change..but most often they don't.
until it happens to someone you know you wont understand that.

There is a huge difference between knowing someone who's addicted, watching the process etc. and understanding the process, being capable of emotional distance etc. You obviously weren't capable of being emotionally distant. I've been there.

I've also had to realize that certain people really see no other alternative, no matter how insane that seems. The 'wanting to change' line just doesn't apply. Dealing with addiction/recovery for around ten years now, it's obvious that people want to change; the problem is, and I've seen this over and over again, is they don't see how they can. It's a form of self loathing that if you could figure out how to get someone from A to B on this, you would go down in the pages of history.