Relapse in the Public Eye

Over the past week the pain of relapse has been in the public eye, with an intervention staged on air for Andy Dick, Kelly Osbourne’s airplane meltdown and Pete Doherty’s cancelled performances and check-in to rehab.

Andy Dick has struggled with several relapses. His most recent relapse was made public when, during the filming of his new Internet show Andy Dick Live!, the CEO of the network warned him publicly “Everybody knows you have been going through your trials and tribulations…I told you the other day, if this continues, we can’t carry on. And if you decide to leave and not do that (check into rehab), I’m afraid that we can’t carry on here together.”  The emotional intervention followed by Dick’s willingness to go to back to treatment has been all over the Internet.

Also widely public was the alleged meltdown of Kelly Osbourne who reportedly got drunk on an airplane and had to be carried off by security. While she denied the incident initially, this week she admitted that her drinking was sparked by the painful feelings associated with her brother’s multiple sclerosis. She admitted, "on the plane I started looking at the website [a fan told her about]. It described how bad certain cases of MS got, and it made me lose it because I've sat through my mother having breast cancer, my dad almost dying from a bike accident, and now it's my brother who's my best friend." Kelly Osbourne is in recovery from prescription painkiller addiction but has consumed alcohol since leaving rehab.

Another incident this week was indie-rocker Pete Doherty, co-front man of the Libertines, allegedly checking into a rehab in Thailand rather than performing at T in the Park in Kinross, a music festival in Scotland. Doherty has struggled with substance abuse for several years, and recently admitted being addicted to and using heroin and crack cocaine - deeming his previous visits to rehab unsuccessful.

These public displays serve as a good reminder of the numerous private displays of relapse that occur among those in recovery everyday. Relapse is a common and sometimes necessary part of recovery.  No matter how many times one has sought substance abuse treatment and relapsed, there is still hope. Treatment often plants a seed of how wonderful a life in recovery can be. Despite the devastation one experiences through a relapse, the seedling of hope can bring them back to a place of willingness to try again. Sometimes it is just a matter of getting help to re-focus and re-integrate back into a life of freedom from drugs and alcohol.

Luckily there are wonderful relapse treatment programs that exist for those who have a desire to get hooked back into a life of recovery.  Harmony’s primary goal is for clients to attain a lifetime of abstinence from alcohol and drugs. The focus of our Brief Residential Program program is for the client to be able to identify issues of powerlessness and unmanageability that have led to a relapse.  Hopefully those who have relapsed in the public eye and the many who have privately are able to do the same.

Prescription Overdose Does not Discriminate

Amy Tryon (USA) on Poggio (Photo credit: LarsAC)

We have all heard that addiction does not discriminate, or that drugs are “equally opportunity destroyers” and that becomes more evident as breaking news stories reveal the prescription opiate overdoses of many from actors to uniformed professionals to Olympic medalists.

Amy Tryon, who died of an opiate overdose last month, happened to be both a uniformed professional and an Olympic equestrian medalist.  Tryon rode for the U.S. Equestrian Team at the 2004 Athens Olympics where the U.S. team won a bronze medal. In 2008, she competed at the Beijing Olympics. When she wasn’t training, she worked for Eastside Fire and Rescue in her hometown near Seattle, WA.

Riding took a toll on Tryon as she suffered knee and back injuries for which she was reportedly prescribed pain medication. The medical examiner’s office in Seattle, WA released a toxicology report yesterday indicating that Tyron died of an acute combined opiate overdose, which included Oxycodone.

The percentage of those addicted to pain medications in the US is soaring and deaths from prescription painkillers have now reached epidemic levels. Nearly 15, 000 people die every year of overdoses involving prescription opiates, making the number of overdose deaths from prescription opiates greater than those from heroin and cocaine combined. Access to prescription opiates contributes to the problem, as reports indicate that in 2010 enough prescription painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month.

The access to this highly addictive drug and propensity toward accidental overdoses has resulted in numerous tragic stories like that of Amy Tryon. If you or a loved one is struggling with a prescription opiate addiction, there is help. Since addiction does not discriminate, neither does the ability to overcome addiction through drug treatment.

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Addiction is a Family Disease

Addiction is often referred to as a “family disease” because it does not exist in a vacuum, impacting only the addict. It permeates the entire family and impacts each person individually.

In order to protect, help or “fix” an addict, family members often develop unhealthy coping mechanisms. In response to a loved one's unhealthy addiction, family members start to adopt their own unhealthy habits. These habits can take on various forms including, but not limited to: trust issues that lead to snooping, denial of the addiction, lying to oneself and others, protecting by hiding the addiction, feelings of shame and embarrassment, internalizing the addiction as one’s fault, working overtime to  help the addict, losing oneself through constant focus on the addict, experiencing obsessive worry and thoughts about the addict.

When an addict gets the help they need, family members impacted by the disease must also seek help. The entire family unit can get better by each person working individually at the same time. Three of the main coping mechanisms that need to be discarded once the addict is in treatment are enabling, controlling and rescuing.

A family member enables by continuing to protect the addict or support them while they are in active addiction. By accepting the bad behavior through monetary or social support, the addict continues in using because they are enabled to do so. Many addicts need to “hit bottom” in order to be susceptible to addiction treatment. Ending the enablement of their disease allows them to hit bottom and thus seek help faster.

Rescuing is when a family member gains a sense of identity and heroism through saving the addict.  Over time the rescuer loses part of themselves and adopts a mono-identity of being the one who saves the addict from his/her own troubles. Social or personal activities that were once important to the rescuer take the backseat while they focus on the addict’s problems. When an addict doesn’t need to be rescued anymore because they have sought drug treatment, the rescuer feels a sense of emptiness and loss of identity that they need to build back up by focusing on themselves.

Controlling is when a family member believes they have power over the thoughts, actions or experiences of another person. Thoughts such as “its my fault he/she drinks” or “if only I could make him/her happy she wouldn’t use drugs” can become very destructive to one’s self-esteem. Realizing and accepting that individuals cannot control the behaviors or actions of others becomes a very freeing experience for the controller.

Working on these three behaviors in the family system can start to significantly alleviate the damage caused by the disease of addiction.  Drug and alcohol treatment centers have family programs that work on these and other behaviors that can be the first step toward overcoming the family disease of addiction.  

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• Are You An Addiction Enabler?

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Prominent Doctors and Celebrities Advocating Drug Treatment

Last month, a group of two dozen prominent doctors and groups such as the Drug Policy Alliance started a legal campaign for Cameron Douglas, son of Michael Douglas. Cameron Douglas had his prison term nearly doubled in January 2010 when heroin and Suboxone® were found in his cell. His initial sentence was 5 years for possession of methamphetamine and has since been extended four and a half years.

According to the Drug Policy Alliance, most inmates face loss of prison privileges when caught with drugs and Douglas’ sentence is one of the harshest ever given by Federal Judge for drug possession in prison to date. The legal campaign to appeal Douglas’ charge is an attempt to voice that addiction should be met with drug treatment rather than prison time and to highlight the Drug Policy Alliance’s stance that “the federal corrections systems, in particular, but corrections in general have for a long time ignored the treatment need of their inmates.” And Douglas expressed his needs wholeheartedly by pleading to the Federal Judge that he was just trying to feel “normal.” According to the New York Daily News, Douglas stated “You see, your honor, I cannot seem to find comfort in my own skin…I feel ashamed. I feel defeated.”

The campaign for Douglas comes at a time when Hollywood has been more vocal than ever in advocating for treatment over imprisonment. Hollywood celebrities like Matthew Perry and Martin Sheen advocate for NADCP (National Association of Drug Court Professionals) by showing that drug courts work. While nearly 80% of inmates with addiction problems don’t receive treatment, the evidence based practices of drug courts indicate that those in drug court are six times more likely to stay in treatment long enough for them to get better. Both the NADCP and those advocating for Douglas believe, as Martin Sheen says, “when a court orders an addict to treatment instead of prison we all rise.” Hopefully their voice and advocacy will allow more addicts who don’t feel “comfort in their own skin” the option of effective drug treatment over prison.

Related articles

• The Case of Cameron Douglas: Prison Is Not Rehab, Say Addiction Experts (healthland.time.com)
• Addiction experts files brief on behalf of Michael Douglas' incarcerated son Cameron (hollywood.com)