Rehab becoming a joke
MSNBC has out a great report by Patti Davis, the daughter of Nancy and Ronald Reagan, on how stars are abusing rehab - using it as a PR stunt, not a way to get better:
In the last year or so, rehab has become the ultimate publicity tool, a brief break from the glitzy life, a chance to burnish one’s reputation. (The bad girls aren’t alone in this regard; see Mel Gibson, Isaiah Washington.) What we’ve forgotten is that rehab is supposed to result in rehabilitation. Hence the name. Rehabilitating one’s life, when it’s broken and damaged, is not just a weekend stay…
It makes me angry when I see how the opportunity of being in rehab can be abused as nothing more than a slick PR move. A brief retreat from the paparazzi. How lucky these celebrities are to be able to go to one of these facilities (which are not cheap) and to benefit from the wisdom and help that waits behind the gates.
I struggled for years to learn on my own what someone like Lohan could learn in months, if she were willing to do so. Of course, that learning also has to be followed by practice. Every day. Forever. But it can start in rehab.
Abusing ourselves with any kind of substance abuse is a violation of the gift of life—it isn’t what any of us were put here for. And treating rehab like it’s just a strategic career move is practically blasphemous.
I imagine the other people in these rehab facilities, watching a celebrity breeze in for a week or so, then leave. I imagine their anger—actually, I don’t have to imagine it, I feel it, too. It’s hard to fix the places where you’re broken, hard to wrestle with your demons. If you don’t take the help that’s available along the way, there will come a day when you are left all alone with demons that have grown so big and so vicious that you can’t defeat them. A lot of people know that and commit themselves to the hard and serious work of rehab. They’re the ones who won’t have to face the bleak dark road that waits for those celebrities who believe bright lights define them.
Tags: lindsay lohan, rehab, celebrity, pr stunt
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POSTED IN: Gossip
3 opinions for Rehab becoming a joke
aimee
May 31, 2007 at 9:39 am
I absolutely agree with this article. I too am an addict- I started out at the age of 15 using oxycontin- at age 17 when 1000 mgs a day was no longer enough and it was becoming way too expensive I began abusing heroin. I find it truly infuriating how lindsay and these other stars abuse rehab. Most rehabs start at 15000 dollars up front for a few weeks and the price raises from the there. I never had the money to be able to attend a place like this, and I desperately needed the help. I have lost all respect for Lindsay. She treats her addiction like a joke. It seems evident to me that the only reason she even went to rehab is so her image wont be completely shattered and this will be her penance. Last time she treated it as if it was an extended vacation and she just needed a break from life. It is absolutely disgusting- rehab is for very sick people who have no choice but to go there because they will basically die if they dont get that help. She should not be there if she does not want that help, which she is obviously not ready for yet. As an addict I know that it takes alot to get to the point where you have had enough of drugs. You truly must hit your bottom and often have done terrible things you never imagined yourself doing. I dont believe lindsay has hit this point- she has to want to stop using and it has to come from deep within her- that is the only thing that can save her. So she can keep going to rehab as many times as she wants and make a mockery of it and herself, but only she can truly save herself by wanting to stop using, and by wanting to take advantage of the emotional tools and strength that rehab can give her if she is willing to change her life.
izzie
May 31, 2007 at 9:54 am
you are rite…only she can save herself and her fans will continue to support her….
god bless your soul….and bless the whole world each and every day…if one person can change,
i certainly know d whole world can…
dave
Jun 4, 2007 at 8:06 pm
aimee…while i agree with most of your post,i do have an issue with your underlying motive in not being empathetic towards Lindsay.as a recovering addict,you should know how hard it is to break the cycle of want and need and truly realize that you are a wretched,pathetic waste of oxygen in your enslavement to your particular demon. not everyone can hit this low point when they are young because you think you are indestructible,drugs or no drugs!!! i am a recovering alcoholic,and the reason it took so long to hit the bottom was because i never saw alcohol as a DRUG!!! society still doesn’t really call beer and liquor a drug,especially to young people like Lindsay. it took a horrible car accident after 13 years of drunkfests to cave in my beer-filled bubble.fortunately,i didn’t kill anyone,just put them in the hospital. i have no sympathy for miss Lohan on the drunk-driving charge(she should have had her male friend drive when they were chasing the ronson snake)but i empathize all day long with Lindsay in that addiction is so hard to get a grip on when you are young and stupid,stupored,looking for lust,love,whatever in all the wrong places-you get my drift.it took me 13 years to find DETERMINATION to turn my life around but only after a horrible crash. i hope that Lindsay had her wake-up call or it could drag on for years and destroy her life,career,and self-worth. i got my life and a job back but i still struggle everyday with that self-worth monkey. anyway,that’s my two cents and i wish the best to Lindsay in getting hold of her demons and back on track.peace
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