It wouldn’t be fair to single out one tragedy and define an entire movement by it – so don’t get me wrong, that’s not what I’m trying to do here. But the fact is that I come into contact with people every day who’ve been rendered totally helpless and hopeless by the recovery culture. Certainly, everyone who undergoes an intervention and treatment on the A&E network’s popular television show Intervention doesn’t commit suicide, but this guy in the video below did, and maybe we should think about what he was taught in rehab. His case is the extreme example and outcome of what I see in people who’ve been involved in the recovery culture daily. Check the video of this recent local news report (I saved the video and put it up on my youtube account because someone already removed a clip of his Intervention episode, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the original of this news report video gets taken down too):
Notice what Dillon says at the end of the video:
I did more drugs when I got back from rehab, than I did before I went in, because, I wasn’t done using”
To Dillon’s parents: so did I, and so have countless people. The reason for this may be related to the fact that when you go to rehab, it gets pounded into your head that “you’re not done yet” or that “you haven’t had enough” or that “you haven’t hit rock bottom yet.” In some sense, even though he was in control of his actions, your son may have been a victim of beliefs that were taught to him by the very people who were supposed to be helping him. Personally, I was told relentlessly at my first rehab that I hadn’t had enough yet, wasn’t done yet, and that I’d be shooting up soon – and I conformed to that message, starting to use drugs intravenously within a week of leaving rehab!
The next part of Dillon’s statement which is instructive is this:
Shortly after that I realized that I had no power over my addiction whatsoever.
This too is a major message of the recovery culture – it’s their cornerstone – Powerlessness – Disease – etc. They never stop talking about it. They teach people that they will always be addicts, that they will always crave drugs for the rest of their lives, and that there is no escaping it, but only trudging through life resisting and coping with it one day at a time.
People use drugs and alcohol because they derive some pleasure from it – bottom line. This is a simple explanation, and provides an out for the person who feels they might need a change – explore your options and choose to find a life that makes you happier than excessive substance use. Instead of this though, when we send people to rehab we teach them that they must hit rock bottom, that they’re powerless, and that a disease is causing their behavior. All of this leaves them in a terrifyingly incomprehensible world. They learn to be helpless. They learn that they can’t change.
Suicide is something people choose because they believe it will be better than continuing living. They’re hopeless that life can get any better. Does anyone think that maybe when you teach someone that they can’t control their own behavior, yet their behavior is leading to constant miserable consequences, that maybe they might be behaving very logically when they subsequently decide to kill themselves?
Don’t get me wrong please. I’m not saying Dillon should’ve killed himself. I’m only saying that from his perspective, with the beliefs he’d learned, it made sense. In reality, it doesn’t make sense – because in reality, his addiction was not a disease, and he didn’t need to be stuck with it for the rest of his life. He could’ve learned a view of addiction that made sense and was helpful, if he’d been exposed to some other ideas.
I constantly receive angry emails from people incredulously asking why I would bash the recovery culture, from now on, I’ll refer to this post as my reason. I want to help people avoid Dillon’s fate. I want them to know that they’re not doomed, and that they can solve their problems. Teaching people that they’re powerless, and convincing them that their behavior is caused by an imaginary disease does not help. It hurts.
I believe there has been at least one other person featured in this series who committed suicide at some point after rehab. I think his name was Chris, and I remember seeing his domestic partner interviewed in the news after it happened.
Side note. I’d also point to the genius writer David Foster Wallace, who was heavily ensconsced in 12-Steppism and did a stint in rehab back when he was a grad student. Very famous and tragic (but when aren’t they tragic?) suicide of the past few years. No one has looked at the angle, but I wonder how much of his suicide can be linked to the self-destructive doctrines he held so dear from AA/MA/NA.
Self destructive doctrines???…your misinformed. Ask yourself honestly was it the disease of addiction that killed him or aa/na principles. Blaming someones death on the principles of AA is laughable. if they were in active addiction and were addicts rather than abusers, it gets worse never better
What about the others who have successfully completed the rehabs they have started through this program? I think it’s more than 100. So, if we use your logic at looking at how A&E subjects have performed after rehab to judge it’s efficacy, then rehab is indeed successful since the success rate of those on this show is somewhere around 90 percent judging by the numbers I’ve seen. I have a relative who has just returned from rehab and is doing better than he has ever done. I don’t know that I believe addiction is a disease but to suggest the addicted should just go on until they are done doing what they are going to do is to suggest that their loved ones should just continue to bear the worst of their behavior. Therapy, at the very least, can help.
Frau,
My first few sentences of the post should indicate that I’m not trying to “prove” anything logically with this post – it was meant to provoke meaningful thought and discussion only, and not to serve as proof of any particular claims. I didn’t use this case to “judge it’s [rehab's] efficacy”, as you stated.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who’ve been on the show who’ve done well. Natural recovery rates being so high, any group of people with this problem who make a quit attempt should have many successes. What’s more, it’s been shown that simply having researchers check in with people, can raise success rates. Now imagine having an entire tv crew document your plight – that may also raise success rates – or perhaps it installs a crushing pressure! I won’t pretend to know.
What I do know, is that regardless of A&E’s rates, there are much more scientific studies out there, done on exponentially larger groups which say that treated groups generally don’t fair better than untreated groups in the end.
- Steven Slate
THIS IS YOUR COMMENT!!! “People use drugs and alcohol because they derive some pleasure from it – bottom line.” REALLY? I know for a fact that you have never had an addiction problem!!! Unfortunately, this man’s untreated addiction took his life!! I was addicted to alcohol for 16 years, and prescription drugs for 5 years! Guess what??? Before I entered my road to recovery with AA, I got no pleasure from either! They simply did not work anymore, but my body could not go without them!! OH, and by the way, I have never been arrested for anything!!! People commit suicide everyday, and yes it is very tragic! But last time I checked, commiting suicide was a choice!!! I never chose to ruin my familys’ lives with my addiction, but I did choose to get help for it!!! In order to stay sober, AA members need to work their program as suggested in the Big Book! If there is deviation to this, they will not stay sober and their addiction will KILL THEM!!!–BOTTOM LINE!!!
I understand what you’re trying to say, I think. AA is NOT for everyone. I am an alcoholic and I was extremely put off by AA. The cult-like meetings, the “Bible,” the jargon, the idea that I am somehow irrevocably broken and that if I don’t do exactly what “they” say exactly how “they” say, my doom is lurking around the next corner liquor store. I didn’t like the idea of having a sponsor, and to be truthful I didn’t relish the idea of hanging around people just as rotten as I was. I have been sober for years, but AA was definitely not a helpful part of that and it angers me that AA is so pervasive that everyone just assumes that if it doesn’t work for you there’s something wrong with YOU.