Something rude happened in my sober group yesterday

So I go to 6 month long IOP program for addiction. This is after hospitalization, an IRTS facility, moving into a permanent sober home, and doing a PHP program for 5 weeks. I’ve basically been in therapy 5 days a week for 7 months.

In this program people are at all different stages in their recovery. Some even relapsing while they go there.

We had a new person join yesterday and their DOC was weed and alcohol. They said they relapsed last week and are on day 5 of their sobriety with alcohol. They were talking about how they were feeling really good and even went to the gym.

During one of our breaks, our little group of smokers went outside and one of them were saying things like “5 days and they’re feeling good? They must not have had a serious problem. I had to medically detox for 2 weeks, and I was still feeling awful a week after that.” Also saying that weed is a “teenager addiction”

It was so rude to diminish their struggle and say they had it worse or that the new person “didn’t drink enough” for it to be actual alcoholism.

When we got back in, I just had to bring it up. Saying that even if you had ONE drink every single night for years and it was too hard not to, that is still addiction. You are worthy of getting the treatment you want and need to fix unhealthy behavior. When the counselor was a bit confused, I told her that there were words said during the break and that people were stamping someone as having an “easy addiction”

No matter what rock bottom basement you’ve gone through, nobody’s is worse or better than yours, just decorated differently with things scary to them.