… and gettin’ off them. And trying to stay off them.
Interesting subject. To say the least.
See the posts scattered around on the main page about the various movies, tv series, etc. related to this. (Like “Celebrity Rehab”, “Sober House”, etc.)
“Intervention” (A&E TV series)
One thing I want to write about is the A&E TV network series called “Intervention.” At first I wasn’t even interested in looking at it, figuring it would just be simple exploitation and sensationalism. It didn’t really turn out that way. It’s a pretty intense reality series that follows addicts, alcoholics, bulemics, and other people with substance issues who are about at bottom into an intervention by the people left in their life who still want to fight to not lose them.
An intervention is a pretty extreme measure. In general, the AA rule of thumb is pretty much that you cannot urge, cajole, threaten, encourage, or talk someone into getting help; they have to hit their own bottom and really want to get help themselves. So the concept of attempting to create this situation externally is problematic.
Having watched a few dozen of these, I would say that most of the time, the addict/sufferer does agree to at least go to the treatment place, but the medium and long term success after that is only about 50%. Just like in real life. The success stories, and follow ups are very uplifting but the failures, relapses and even deaths are extremely–I guess you’d use the word “sobering.”
Creative people and the self-destruction stereotype
I’m not quite sure who keeps reinforcing this stereotype: that all great artists, musicians and writers and addicted and self-destructive. The examples you can find are endless.
Personally, I try to take minimal care of my mental, spiritual and physical condition because I know how short life is and how far I am away from creating the things I conceive in my mind. I love Hendrix but I also love a million other musicians who kept writing and playing for decades.
linda fetch 