Lara Marlowe had a great article in this past weekend’s edition of Dublin’s top newspaper, The Irish Times. The piece, titled How US obsession with addiction has spawned a rehab industry, asks some basic questions about the us rehab industry. I had a great conversation with Lara, and she seemed genuinely shocked to find that most rehabs were simply peddling the 12-steps, in which 6 of the steps directly mention god. Addiction isn’t her specialty, so of course she’d be shocked. Who would assume that what’s being sold in the mainstream as medicine is actually just faith healing? It reminded me that the general public really has a different view of this treatment stuff because they haven’t been on the inside, and the industry has done a good job of hiding their real agenda. This means that my job, and the job of all of us who are trying to shed light on the problems with addiction treatment is much bigger than I previously realized. Every time I want to debunk treatment, I’ll first need to explain what treatment really is, or I’ll never get through to the new people who naively send their children off to what they mistakenly believe is a proper solution for addiction.
Anyways, I got some good quotes in at the end of the article. I thought she did a great job with it, and it’s definitely worth a read. Check it out here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0618/1224299152819.html
Here’s a quote from the article by Adi Jaffe, who I have some major differences of opinion with, but I’m glad he can be honest about this basic point:
Every year, three million Americans seek treatment in some 12,000 rehab facilities, says Adi Jaffe, the founder of the AllAboutAddiction.com website and a columnist with Psychology Today . Alas, he adds, rehab has at best a 25 per cent long-term success rate.
And here’s a quote from me, which I’m delighted to have gotten into the article for such a wide audience:
Slate blames rehab culture for making people believe they’re engaged in a lifelong struggle against addiction. “It’s horrific,” he says. “They don’t allow people to move on with their lives. They keep them in their clutches.”
UPDATE: Angry Reply Published In The Irish Times!
An outraged counselor wrote an angry reply full of all the normally used talking points and appeals to authority these people are so good at using. It shouldn’t be hard to tear it to shreds, which I will do, point by point, later tonight or tomorrow. For now, go check it out: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2011/0623/1224299454617.html#.TgNfdY5KHW0.twitter
