Yes you're right, everyone who contributes their experience and ideas is really valuable!
Yes, your friends and family probably don't understand unless they have been through this.
Also the substance abuse forum isn't as busy as the friends and family of alcoholics forum, so you may want to check out some of the threads there as well as addiction is addiction!
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...ly-alcoholics/
There is a stickies section at the top of each forum, you might find some of these threads, from the F&F of alcoholics stickies helpful as well:
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...c-reading.html (Classic Reading)