The Myth of Celebrity Rehab
Nothing stirs the public’s interest more than a lurid story of a celebrity acting badly. Add a few embarrassing photographs of that celebrity stumbling out of a bar, or even better, a mug shot, and those gossip blogs see their traffic spike.
The celebrity’s agent, manager, and PR person jump into gear to “fix” the situation.
“She knows he has a problem so she’s going to rehab.”
“He’s under a lot of stress, but is now dealing with the problem.”
The spin begins innocently enough, but if that celebrity is not ready for treatment, if she has not truly hit bottom, they will be back in the spotlight again a few months later, usually far worse off than they were.
Addiction is a progressive disease that requires intervention and intensive treatment as well as a long-term plan of recovery to be successfully overcome. Unfortunately, only not all addicts and alcoholics come to terms with their addiction and do what is necessary to get clean and sober.
As part of this circus of media fascination with celebrities in trouble come stories of celebrity rehab, places where the rich and famous go to dry out or get clean. Often, the stories about these rehabs are full of distortions and misinformation. They are described as spas or mere temporary safe havens from the media spotlight. In truth, most of these rehabs have high quality, intensive clinical programs and they have successfully treated thousands of people. The media does not cover that story. They cover the story of the few celebrities who are still enmeshed in their addiction.
The truth is, there is no such thing as a celebrity rehab. There simply aren’t enough celebrities in treatment to justify the existence of such a place. There are top-notch rehabs that happen to, on occasion, treat celebrities.
The shame in this misrepresentation of these rehabs is that many people who would receive exceptional treatment start to believe the media hype: that’s not really a treatment center. They read a few fly-by-night bloggers or gossip mongers whose evidence is based on a handful of celebrity cases. Although these rehabs have scores of positive stories of success, HIPPA and related federal regulations prevent them from telling those stories. Anyone reading stories by the misinformed would be surprised to discover that the positive stories far outweigh the negative. The media are not interested in success stories of celebrity addicts. What’s the fun in that?
Drug abuse devastates families. The ultimate outcome for the addict can be death. Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson are the most obvious recent examples of this. It does not serve the public to mislead them about the efficacy of treatment by painting a false picture of some of the most respected drug rehabs in the country.
Rehabs don’t stay in business because they have celebrity clients. The vast majority of clients are ordinary people who are referred by clinical professionals, doctors, and hospitals. Those professionals do not refer their clients lightly.
The most shameful aspect of this media attention is that they seem to revel in mocking and humiliating celebrities with addiction. This speaks to a larger issue in our society: a lack of understanding of the seriousness of addiction.
Tags: celebrity addiction
