"Scott Disick isn't a monster. He's an addict."

He’s the villain in the Kardashian storyline. But people struggling with addiction are not just “baddies”.

How could he? What a horrible husband. He’s got little kids to think about! He just wants to party. He should grow up.

These comments have all been uttered about Scott Disick, the father of Kourtney Kardashian’s three children, since they recently and most publicly split for good.

There is no doubt Disick has been on a hell of a bender before and since and that his drinking and drug-taking are at the core of their union’s demise. As are those unflattering photographs of him carousing with women, sitting in front of lines of racked-up white powder, swigging booze and generally acting like the indulged celebrity on the loose he is.

But here’s the thing: Disick, 32, is also an admitted alcoholic. He is also a diagnosed depressive who lost both his parents within a short period of time last year and had his intense grief served up as entertainment for millions of millions of Keeping Up With The Kardashians viewers the world over.

Anyone who has watched will be aware Disick is a man deeply in love with his partner and children, a man who wants to be a better father, partner and man. Over the show’s many seasons viewers have seen Disick tumble off the wagon on numerous occasions wallow in remorse and severe self-loathing following each and every time.

In other words, Disick is ill. He has the disease of addiction and, as such the scorn, shame and blame currently being levelled at him via social and traditional media is not helping one little bit. Calling him pathetic, negligent, repugnant, depraved and despicable is redundant. He is calling himself worse every waking second.

Yes, it is a shame he has let down Kourtney to the point she can no longer tolerate their relationship but as anyone who has suffered, known or loved someone with an addiction will know Disick has let himself down more. He hates himself for disappointing others with such an intensity he will do anything to blur and obliterate these unbearable feelings. However, the only effective way he knows to get any peace from his self-flagellating mind is to self medicate with the said vices that got him in to this situation in the first place. And so, the cycle of addiction continues.

Watch Scott Disick discuss his addiction on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Post continues after video.

Comedian and former drug addict Russell Brand is articulate and empathetic on the subject of addiction. He is also passionate in his vigil to have it acknowledged for what he fervently believes it is – a serious illness which requires intervention, assistance and understanding rather than shame, scorn and criminalisation.

Like so many addicts Brand, who has been sober for 11 years, was drawn to drugs as a way of blocking negative emotions. “I look to solve inner problems with external things,” he explained. “I’ll use anything to stop myself feeling. Anything that could temporarily relieve that, I was very grateful for. [However] when you take drugs out of the equation, those issues remain.

“The reason I can’t have drugs or drink today is because I know that I can’t manage it,” Brand adds. “As a drug addict, you have to accept that you can never have drink or drugs again. It is 10 years since I used drugs or drank alcohol and my life has improved immeasurably. I have a job, a house, a cat, good friendships and generally a bright outlook. The price of this is constant vigilance because the disease of addiction is not rational.”

Disick is only too aware of this fact having been through the rehab process before only to relapse. As he said this week, ‘[I’m] just taking it one day at a time.’

How about those of us lucky enough to be able to have a couple of glasses of wine and then stop; who can experiment with drugs and not end up their slave; who can quiet their mind without having to numb it in to oblivion, back off with constant criticism.

Being grateful you don’t have this insidious disease is far more positive than further demeaning those who do.

Click through the gallery below for photos of Scott and his family. 

What’s your take on this? Should we leave Scott alone? 

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