Hi Annette: I tend to agree with Lexicat that there is a risk of loss of credibility with your son if you delay his move to the shelter so as to expedite his resolving medical issues with a physician. But I am just not wise enough to second guess anyone on this issue, particularly since you of all people know your son and all the surrounding circumstances. So all I can do is wish you my very best and hope that the situation improves. In the final analysis it is doubtful that he will start into recovery until he becomes desperate enough to do so and until his life becomes so troublesome that there seems to be no other alternative than to start to get well. Perhaps he is starting to realize that he is in the grip of something which, unless he faces up to it, will take him further down the road of unhappiness, sorrow and potential destruction. He hates being preached at and I can identify with that but this reminds me of the fellow whom I met at a meeting who said that things got so bad with him that he would have done anything, even run into the park naked if that were required, just to start back on the road to recovery. Thus when things get so bad that recovery is not everything but “the only thing”, as Yogi Berra used to say, then this opens up the possibility of getting well. If he thinks he can fake you out by promising this and promising that then recovery may be postponed. I’m truly sorry that you haven’t received more cooperation from the rest of your family. This makes a conventional “intervention” less likely and of course greatly increases the burden on you. But you seem to be brave and have stamina so I hope it works out somehow. Every good wish. You are in my thoughts often.
W.