Summary: Dr. Drew Pinsky has experience with celebrities like Harvey Weinstein who are used to power and fame, making treatment difficult.
“Celebrity Rehab” host Dr. Drew Pinsky knows a little something about celebrities and their struggles with addiction. There have been over 25 celebrities featured on the hit reality show, not including the spin-offs like Sex Rehab and Sober House. With these numbers, Dr. Pinsky has learned a thing or two about what happens when a celebrity fights the rehab process.
The news of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s trip to an Arizona rehab facility has everyone wondering if the move is to save face or he genuinely wants to get better. Dr. Pinsky voiced this question and whether Weinstein will be committed to the process of treating his sex addiction.
Sex addiction is no different than other addictions and must be treated in the same process. Dr. Pinsky believes Anthony Weiner is a great example of what needs to happen. He said, “If you look at what Anthony Weiner is doing, that’s what you’re supposed to do.” Weiner faced the consequences for his sexting scandals by pleading guilty for his crimes and accepting a 21-month prison sentence. “You’re supposed to commit your life and your time and the current focus to the treatment process. Just like any other addict.”
Pinsky added that addicts “are not really capable of apologizing, until they’ve been in treatment quite a while. Even then apologies are really empty. They have to make amends. That means cleaning up their side of the street, when means taking the consequences fully for whatever catastrophes they’ve brought upon other people and themselves. And sometimes that means prison time.”
Treating the addiction does not happen overnight, it can take years. “The hardest part is getting them to engage and commit because these patients are typically very defensive. The early part of the treatment is getting through that defense and getting them to be realistic about what they’ve done. Once they get to that point, the shame they feel is profound. It’s overwhelming,” he said.
It is rumored that Weinstein is attending Meadows. Pinsky says it is a great option but he thinks Weinstein would do better at the Patrick Carnes facility in Mississippi. This facility is the same one that Tiger Woods attended.
Treatment for sex addiction can be hard because often they are not willing. Dr. Pinsky said, “It’s hard to tell if there’s something not so recalcitrant about their personality structure that they can’t effectively be treated. All of this power and control is a compensation” for underlying issues. “People like that, their whole life is designed around not feeling those things – including fighting not to go to treatment. And fighting treatment once they get there.”
He fears that until Weinstein takes responsibility for his actions any treatment will be ineffective. “The more he fights against it, whether it’s taking legal action or taking half measures, the less well it’s going to go.”
Dr. Pinsky’s last caution is that for someone like Weinstein who had likely developed other psychological problems, suicide is a high risk. “Suicide is not an uncommon outcome. I would really worry about that with someone like this.”
Do you think Weinstein wants to get better or is he just a jerk? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
To learn more about other celebrities that have spent time in rehab, read these articles:
- Chris Brown “Acting Violently” Kicked Out of Rehab
- Selena Gomez Leaves 45-Day Rehab Early Vowing to Never Return
- Lindsay Lohan Leaves Rehab and Greets the World with a Smile
Photo: cnn.com