I have to be honest with my readers that in this post I have struggled with it as in a previous life I worked in a pharmacy that had a methadone program. Some of the stories I heard during that time are heartbreaking. (I also have a smartphone addiction that I am working on.)
However, this is going to focus on Izzy (Isabelle) Lightwood being stable and how someone in reality that has a chemical addiction can get help. As addiction can take many forms including but isn't limited to illegal drugs and alcohol. (let's talk about Magnus in another post 😉)
These clips focus on Izzy in season two where she is mostly in the recovery stage, from a Yen Fen addiction a substance that is akin to opioids in the additional sense that it was prescribed for her and she got addicted to it and started to seek it out leading to her having a co-dependent relationship with Raphaelle that was dependent on her for both of them getting high, Izzy off vampire venom and Raphaelle off shadow hunter blood.
Because of the addiction, she had typical addiction behaviour's of denial, anger, bargaining and then seeking it out from the source as she was thinking about her next fix she was a high-functioning addict and she was able to dry out with some help but I have another post on that. However in her adiction behaviors, we see that she isn't used to being in a position where she has power over the people that had power over her, we see that this is just a family it's an organization as well and so this is where she and Alec are calling out unacceptable behavior. As Alec is the only one who at this stage knows that she is an adict and who got her addicted to the subustance in the first place and this is something that we need to be aware of that people need to be aware of the effects of medications some that are perscribed can be just as dangerous as illigal medications as well.
So for her but not used she is seeking honesty and accountability from the people who have created the environment and circumstances that lead to her addiction. We have seen in the first season that even as young adults they see that their parents are away a lot and Alec is acting as head of the institute a lot of the time. He also relies on Izzy and Jace however when Clary comes in his plans are derailed.
This clip in particular focuses on the responsibility she has been focusing on. One of the fundamentals of recovery and stabilization. Is to keep yourself busy and focus on what you can control in your life. So this is her duty at work, training her little brother that has a massive lot of potential. However, she sees that the family needs to confront what is going on in their personal life, deal with the dysfunction, and move beyond it as Clary has become a more stable fixture in their lives and they have started to care for her and Alec has to respect her as Jaces girlfriend
We see her call her Father out for his poor behavior toward Max. So she is not only taking accountability for herself but for the others in her family. That she is responsible for or cares about and we see an honest and vulnerable moment between her Father and later Alec as through his bond with Jace he can sense something is wrong Clary has unusual abilities and still being new to the Shadow World. Still acts on her impulses without telling people. Izzy is also enforcing her boundaries with her father as a daughter as they had very rigid boundaries. Alec, now can express his emotions more he can be an Emotionally safe space and we see that they regard the training room as a safe space to talk and train.
In this clip we see that she is physically strong stable, and competent in how she is working and they are working as a team Good as we see that this is a direct tribute to the books where the is some New York Shadowhunter's that turn evil and they where coined team evil against a team good. Confronting those who seek to do her harm this is Jonathan her actual brother, not Jace.
We see in this clip that Izzy sees what needs to be done and this is a great character progression of her forcing Alec to confront his personal issues, as she sees him going down the same track of avoidance of his personal issues. So this is her simply doing what needs to be done, Due to the demons that are attacking the realm due to the rift being open. We also see that the circle members are still in high places and are undermining the attempts to stop Valentine.
We also see Izzy navigating the social aspect of the workplace as well as becoming respectable again and earning the admiration of others in the shadow world.
Reading for this post
The Importance Of Maintaining Healthy Family Relationships (marriage.com)Infidelity And How It Affects Marriage, Children And Families - Diane Rehm
Shadowhunter's. orgnailly pubished as sabelle lightwood and addiction part 4 - Shadowhunter's. on annie in wonder land how to experence the NDIS.
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