While there are millions of books and articles about parenting children, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for success. You do everything you can to raise your child right and provide them with every chance they deserve, but they might easily go down the wrong road.
When a person matures into the senior years of their life, they may develop feelings of sorrow and melancholy that derive out of the aging process. Depression in the elderly can occur, but it is not a natural component of the aging process. While most individuals go through bouts of sadness, depression is a medical illness that can be treated.
Seeing someone battle addiction is just like that - one day, they may be crying about how miserable their life is and they need to stop drinking or using and then the next day, they do not need any help and are sure they are only enduring some bad luck. This type of yo-yo thinking creates dishonesty that people who abuse substances will convince themselves that they are telling the truth regardless of any deceit.