Rehab is all the rage and all the big names are in on the act. Britney’s done it. Lindsay’s done it. And a whole lot of other celebrities we only call by their first names probably should have done it. Their drunken & drug driven misadventures are the curse of our time, and it’ll probably be some time before we stop hearing about it.

Apart from the old concerns about just how insensitive and unscrupulous paparazzi stalking of down and out celebrities is, the rehab discussion seems to raise few ethical concerns. For one, it is yet to seriously look at the pros or cons of publically flaunting celebrity addiction battles, not that we expect this from the tabloids.

Looking on the bright side, our overexposure to celebrity rehab tales has brought addiction out of the shadows and into mainstream media. It is no longer a taboo topic, and we are no longer pretending that drug problems just don’t happen. 

The lucky beneficiaries of public addiction battles, like the makers of shows like VH1’s ‘celebrity rehab,’ are often quick to voice the “harsh realism” of their shows.

The argument goes that such ‘realistic’ portrayals of celebrity addictions  not only prove to serve that recovery is possible and help is there, but that rehab is not a process to be taken lightly. Maybe this is the intention. Maybe. But at the end of the day is this really what we learn from the paparazzi’s sad parade of drug induced celebrity mishaps?

More likely, is that we feel a little guilty for enjoying the dire situations of people who need help or play down their problem. It’s getting increasingly hard to take celebrity drug problems seriously because we’re focusing on the personality and not the problem.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t look at the tabloids and see drug addicts you care about or a serious illness that kills. You see an overpaid attention seeker living a little excessively or doing their best for a little publicity.

Not only does this make for bad reading, but, according to the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAAPT) in the US, media stories about addiction that focus on personalities and not the disease is largely detrimental to improving public awareness and understanding.

The media’s taste for the outlandish personalities over hard-hitting medical problems tends to belittle the long term plight of addiction. Ronald Hunsicker, CEO of the NAAPT, points out that addiction is the one illness where we feel it’s ok to ‘dramatize the struggles of individuals in such a graphic fashion.’

Thanks to the tabloids obsession with celebrity rehab, addiction is no longer that family destroying illness that tugs at the heart strings. Instead, it’s a trivial but entertaining problem of the rich and the famous, far removed from our common folk lives.

At the end of the day, celebrity addictions, and the countless trips to rehab that follow, tend to register little more than a groan in the public sphere. Until the discussion turns away from the personality and spotlights on the problem, public addiction battles will continue to do little more than sell magazines.

References

2008, ‘Cable show on ‘celebrity rehab’ draws NAATP criticism,’ Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 4/2/08, Vol. 20 Issue 5, pp. 4-6

2009, ‘The truth about “rehab” and drug addiction,’’ Scholastic Choices, Vol. 24, Iss. 6, pp. 24-26

Benson, K. 2008, ‘Celebrity meltdowns trigger rehab surge,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 28/1/08, viewed 22/6/09, http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rehab-in-big-demand/2008/01/27/1201368945727.html

Cole, D. 1999, ‘Doing time: in rehab,’ The Nation, 20/9/99, Vol. 269 Issue 8, pp.30-31

Kotler, S. 2005, ‘Drugs in Rehab,’ Psychology today, Vol.38, Iss.2, pp. 28 - 29

Munro, P. 2009, ‘Abyss awaits young as teen drug rehab closes,’ The Age, 14/6/09, viewed 19/6/09, < http://www.theage.com.au/national/abyss-awaits-young-as-teen-drug-rehab-closes-20090613-c6t8.html >

Nosek, S. 2008, ‘They tried to make me go to rehab… I said, “how much does it pay?”’, Pajiba, viewed 22/6/09,  <http://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/celebrity-rehab.php>

Paoletta, M. 2004, ‘Rock & Rehab,’ Billboard, Vol. 116, Iss. 22, p .75