Hollywood in Horror
Everyone loves to read about celebrities, and their many newsworthy faults, complexes, addictions and errors in judgment. Lindsey Lohan was famously admitted to an alcohol treatment program for DUI and other alcohol-related charges on multiple occasions; Robert Downey Jr. was notorious for his drug problems. Meanwhile, Britney Spears has been in and out of rehabilitation clinics more times in the past five years than most people have washed their cars; and let’s not forget the number of alleged theft incidents with Winona Ryder.
Some detox facilities are rumored to be less effective than others are. If people are aware of celebrities' tendency toward addictions, they have also seen how often these celebrities relapse and have to keep going back to these centers for help. Being so far removed from reality, do any of these programs do anything to assist in a patient's addiction recovery? Is there any hope of a real intervention, able to help the rich and famous see the harm of their addictions?
As one can imagine, these centers aren't cheap – some charge thousands of dollars a day, requiring a patient to stay for a full 29-day program, but never actually provide therapy to assist the patient in finding the cause of their addiction. If celebrities aren't on the way to addiction recovery after the first visit, how ethical is it that they often end up returning to a clinic several times.
Addiction can be rooted in physical, mental and emotional problems, sometimes even a combination of the three. Any doctor will say that there's only so much they can do for a patient who doesn't really want help, and many addicts will tell that it's very unlikely (although not impossible) to kick an unhealthy habit on the first try. This may account for why so many patients, rich or not, have such a hard time quitting without seeking treatment several times. However, it's been speculated that some celebrities may seek out these ritzy rehab centers as a way to evade the media, as well as just another expensive vacation.
Truth is, in celebrity life, the rehab centers are a temporary sanctuary away from the nasty substances they abuse – after they come out of the rehab center, their normal life consists of the same places, people and situations that drove them to the addiction in the first place. Hollywood is infamous for the ease with which celebrities can obtain drugs and alcohol. Some celebrities may claim to take these substances for good reasons – maybe this drug helps them to stay thin and energetic, or perhaps the alcohol helps them to stay calm and sleep better. Almost as an afterthought, it comes up that these addictions also owe their lives to peer and professional pressures, as well as internal cues such as emotional or psychological trauma and medical histories of being prone to addiction.
Rich or poor, people owe it to themselves to look within and find the root cause of their chemical and behavioral addictions while they are attending a resort-style treatment center. With this knowledge, they will get the most out of their experience and prime themselves with the tools necessary to avoid an expensive repeated visit.