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The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx

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After reading the memoir titled The Heroin Diaries, in which the author, Nikki Sixx, presents a first hand account of his battles with heroin addiction over the course of one year, we must incorporate certain concepts in order to better understand his condition. In this essay I will explore concepts such as empathy, self responsibility and personal identity as identified in Identity and Agency: Conceptual Lessons for the Psychiatric Ethics of Patient Care as well as the concepts of detached and affective blame brought forth by Hannah Pickard in Responsibility Without Blame: Philosophical Reflections on Clinical Practice. Through exploration of these concepts I will show how they apply to Nikki Sixx and his seemingly endless battles with addiction. In his paper, Identity and Agency, Dr. Graham uses the hypothetical scenario of a girl named Theresa who suffers from a mental disorder in which she suffers with self-responsibility and personal identity. In the scenario laid out in the paper, the reader is asked to assume the role of her psychiatrist and imagine ways in which she can be helped. One of the methods implied by Dr. Graham is empathy for the patient. Dr. Graham explains, “Trying to recognize what is or may be intelligible in a patient’s inner life is part of understanding their best interests as individuals and of recognizing how to help them.” (Graham, pp.7-8). After reading my memoir I am more capable of having empathy for the subject in the memoir, Nikki Sixx.
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