I think Celebrity Rehab is profoundly sick shit.

[cali]

Dr Drew is defending his fucked up show:

Dr. Drew defends 'Celebrity Rehab' after Mindy McCready's death

In the wake of Mindy McCready's apparent suicide on Sunday in Arkansas, Dr. Drew Pinsky of "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" was defending the show Tuesday and explaining how things can go wrong with addiction treatment.

In a call-in appearance on "The View," the famous addiction doc mentioned his last phone call with McCready and shed light on why she might have left court-ordered rehab after only a couple of days. He said she was doing well until the death of her boyfriend, David Wilson, in January. Losing the father of her younger son left her "severely shattered," Pinsky said, and her friends were contacting him, urging him to call her.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-mindy-mccready-suicide-dead-dr-drew-celebirty-rehab-20130219,0,41135.story

I'm not saying that he's responsible for the deaths of participants, but how can it possibly be help. It's exploitation. It's not a safe space if millions of people are watching. And anything you do or say is available to anyone forever. Of all the crappy exploitative shows on TV, this has to be one of the worst.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. yeah, it's exploitive on so many levels - "celebrities" trying to make a buck or sag up

dying careers, profoundly addicted (See the Guy from Taxi's episodes) exploited to provide Dr. Drew with money and fame.

[Katashi_itto]

12. I want...REPUBLICAN REHAB.." a group of congressmen are dumped on a desert Island

and fight to the death. "REHAB"? Meh who needs it.

We pick up the survivor....,maybe.

[HiPointDem]

17. +1. I despise phoney 'helpers' like dr drew, dr phil, nancy grace, etc. oprah too. they give

me the willies. like vampires. those people on hoarders too, that stop the clean-up in the middle to force the victims to talk about their 'issues' and puke emotion all over the viewers. just clean up their frigging house, already. vampires.

[AndyA]

28. I simply cannot watch those shows

They aren't really helping anyone, it seems. They are just exploiting their weaknesses to make money.

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
It's interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry

("Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley; 1982)

[deutsey]

32. Give the People What They Want

Well, it's been said before, the world is a stage
A different performance with every age
So open up the history book to any old page
Bring on the lions and open the cage

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

Well the Roman promoters really did things right
They needed a show that would clearly excite.
The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight
And threw the Christians to the lions, sold out every night.

Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

Give 'em lots of sex, perversion and rape
Give 'em lots of violence and plenty to hate
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want

When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane
But still we watch the re-runs again and again
We all sit glued while the killer takes aim
Hey Mom, there goes a piece of the President's brain!

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
Blow out your brains and do it right
Make sure it's prime time and on a Saturday night

"Give the People What They Want" by the Kinks, 1981

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. The Hoarders are overwhelmingly mentally ill, unable to realize the consequences of

having their problems paraded on TV.

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. other relatives of hoarders have told me the same thing - they can't watch because it's too real

[Cleita]

2. Don't you think all those reality shows are exploitive? Some more than others, of course,

but very exploitive. Someone should do a death count. There have been more than McCready. The only one I watch is "Project Runway", which has a lower humiliation factor than the others, but still is sometimes cringeworthy. Shows that deal with vulnerable individuals' self-esteem like the show you are speaking of are especially heinous.

[cali]

3. yes, of course, but Celebrity Rehab takes it to a whole other level

and imo it borders on malpractice. We're talking about ill people here.

[Cleita]

5. Oh, of course. I didn't mean to diminish the outrageousness of the

show you were posting about. It just seems to me that there are no boundaries on this type of exploitation and it has led to this ultimate outcome.

[dlwickham]

15. no one is making anyone go on these shows

and it's not the fault of the show that these people relapse or end up dead

people are so quick to blame someone else for their shortcomings that they refuse to take responsibility for their own actions

[REP]

7. All are pretty awful, but preying upon people with addictions seems unethical

Almost by definition, people with addictions are not operating under full capacity; they're under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and probably are using those substances to self-medicate an underlying problem. They're at the point where they're desperate to quit substance - a notoriously difficult thing, physically and mentally - and are desperate enough (either for sobriety or fleeting fame, or both) to do it on camera. There just seems to be something extra-creepy about using sad, broken people like this for advertising revenue.

[Cleita]

8. Isn't this what they did to Anna Nicole Smith?

She's dead too.

[REP]

9. It was less blatant, but basically, yes

Her show was "look at the freak!" instead of "we're admitting the freak is a junky and we're pretending that we care."

[Blue_Tires]

13. +1

[Siwsan]

4. I watched a couple of episodes, and it was disturbing and uncomfortable to watch

Also got the feeling that a number of the 'patients' were acting out for the camera, for attention. None of the people in the few episodes I saw could even have been considered "C" list celebrities. I think the opportunity to appear before the cameras, again, and battle eacy other for the spotlight triggered a whole lot of acting out bad behaviors. Once those cameras and the attention was gone, they were back to relative anonymity. I can only imagine the psychological plummet.

[pscot]

6. This is a profoundly sick society

and tv is a big reason for that.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Some TV, yes

The stuff I watch on PBS doesn't sink to this level.

Reality TV is just human cockfighting. The one that is a burr under my saddle is that "Biggest Loser" show. For me, it's the moral equivalent of a show that would shame people of color into acting "white" and bleaching their skin, or some show that featured trying to "straighten out" gay people for entertainment of the "perfect" people.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. Absolutely agree. Huge reason.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. It makes me think of this.

(I miss Warren Zevon)

Well, I'm gone to Detox Mansion
Way down on Last Breath Farm
I've been rakin' leaves with Liza
Me and Liz clean up the yard

Left my home in Music City
In the back of a limousine
Now I'm doin' my own laundry
And I'm getting those clothes clean

Growin' fond of Detox Mansion
And this quiet life I lead
But I'm dying to tell my story
For all my friends to read

Well, it's tough to be somebody
[From: http://www.elyrics.net ]
And it's hard not to fall apart
Up here on Rehab Mountain
We gonna learn these things by heart

Well, I'm gone to Detox Mansion
Way down on Last Breath Farm
I've been rakin' leaves with Liza
Me and Liz clean up the yard

What goes on in Detox Mansion
Outside the rubber room
We get therapy and lectures
We play golf in the afternoon

Well, it's tough to be somebody
And it's hard not to fall apart
Up here on Rehab Mountain
We gonna learn these things by heart
Lyrics from <a href="http://www.elyrics.net">eLyrics.net</a>

[BillF]

14. It was fun at first when he had the porn stars, but...

when he started having some profoundly fucked up people with serious problems, like Jeff Conaway, it became voyeurism and I couldn't watch it any more. The mildly screwy might get something out of this group video therapy, but it can't help the seriously ill.

I don't know how good a therapist this guy is when not on camera (I have my doubts if he lets this kind of stuff happen to his "patients" onscreen) but if he hasn't seen her in many moons, it's hard to blame her suicide on him.

[AngryOldDem]

18. My problem with Celebrity Rehab...

First, though, there are some addicts whose demons are so great that they just can't be saved. Sad, hard fact. And I think McCready was one of them. So I'm not blaming Pinsky outright for any of these deaths.

That said, though, the longer "Celebrity Rehab" went on, the more I thought it started to use its participants only for entertainment value. Ethically, I think the show was a very bad idea and I'm glad it's not on anymore. Addiction and the recovery process are not for public consumption like a weekly soap opera.

There were things that went on in that clinic (especially in the later seasons) that most likely would NOT be tolerated anywhere else. There was violence and threat of violence, people bringing drugs into the clinic, getting caught, and not being thrown out of the clinic...etc.

You cannot let one person jeopardize the safety and recovery of the group as a whole, and more often than not, that was precisely what was happening -- there would be a "designated train wreck" that would raise hell all season long, and force a lot of unnecessary drama that NO addiction center would have put up with for one minute. For that, I DO fault Pinsky, no matter what he says.

[deutsey]

30. For what it's worth

I have a friend who works as a film editor/producer in California (he's worked on COPS, Unsolved Mysteries, and other shows you might know).

He posted something on FB defending Dr. Drew and one of his friends responded by saying that he used to be an editor on Celebrity Rehab. According to this guy, the producers really pushed him to discard/downplay the positive moments caught on film and focus instead on the "train wreck" footage in order to heighten and prolong the drama.

I can't vouch for this person's account, but my friend didn't contradict him, either.

[cali]

33. Therapy isn't therapy if it's produced for mass consumption and $$$

it doesn't matter how the editing was done; an audience destroys any therapeutic benefit. people act differently in front the camera.

[deutsey]

35. No argument here

Just thought that was an interesting glimpse behind the scenes that confirmed my suspicions of the real motivations behind the show.

[Melinda]

41. I read a statement from someone named "Bob", one of the addiction specialists on this show..

It was online the day after McCready died, and he stated that she had a "personality disorder" - didn't name it, but said that all her issues (including addiction) came from the disorder itself. The fact that she had many, many failed suicide attempts before she finally succeeded says to me, as a Borderline Personality myself, that she most likely shared a similar if not the same kind of disorder. Everything that follows in the life of one with these type disorders occur as a direct result of trauma suffered at very young and succeeding ages. Trauma leads directly to dysfunction: addictions, family issues, child custody issues, inappropriate behaviors, most specifically the suicide attempts.... this poor woman never stood a chance.

And the fact that this addiction specialist (counselor) said this after she was dead tells me they knew she was high risk, but could not have cared less. Personality Disorder can be treated successfully, but not with the kind of treatment she received at the hands of reality teevee.

Pinsky's appalling.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

19. my favorite quote from him on this :

Quoth Dr. Drew : " “If I was doing a show on cancer, there would not be much surprise when my cancer patient died. In fact, we’d celebrate a few years of good quality life."

What a sleaze-bag.

sP

[cali]

20. Unbelievable. He should be sanctioned by whatever professional organization

governs practitioners.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. well the good news for him

is that it doesn't matter how huge a quack you are, if you have a following on the boob-toob you will always have a job. cnn is proof of that...

sP

[thetruthhurtsforsome]

22. So don't watch it

Many TV shows are just as bad and just as popular with the masses as Dr Drew, some are even worse but you have the power, change the channel or do not watch it.

That is called freedom of choice, many more like Dr Drew then dislike Dr Drew, and hence he is still on the TV.

Perhaps we need a thread to complain about TV shows so everyone can bitch and moan about something totally meaningless as TV shows.

Everyone on the TV show agreed by their own free will to be on the TV shows, that is what they choose to do, right or wrong it is their choice.

For what it is worth, I don't watch Dr Drew, I have in the past and really don't care if he is on TV or not.

US Drone Policy seems like a much better thing to complain about seeing that the impact will be much greater then Dr drew on the TV.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

23. wow... whodathunkit that you could slap down

the collapse of society being made evident in the popularity of shows like this with US drone policy... impressive for early in the morning.

sP

[thetruthhurtsforsome]

25. If one wants to blame the collapse of society on reality TV, go for it.

Reality TV is nothing more than a distraction for the masses so they will not pay attention to what is really going on with our government and the world.

[cali]

24. I've never watched it

but you do jump to conclusions. I don't need to watch it to know that conducting therapy with fucked up addicted people in front cameras for entertainment purposes, and to make $$$ is exploitative and against every therapeutic tenet. DUH.

And YOU with your handful of posts commenting about how I should be complaining about drones. Do a fucking search.

[thetruthhurtsforsome]

26. You NEVER watched a show you are complaing about???

That is way messed up.

[cali]

29. No, it's not. It really only requires a couple of functioning brain cells

to discern that treating mentally ill people in front of cameras for money is the height of exploitation.

[EastKYLiberal]

27. Drug rehabilitation is only successful if the patient sticks with it.

But it's a disease that is hard to fight and fingers shouldn't be pointed at the doctor OR the patient.

That, however, doesn't negate the fact that TV is full of stupid shit.

[spanone]

31. it's fucking teevee, of course it's sick shit

[cali]

34. Bill Moyers is tv. Downton Abbey is tv. Are those shows sick shit?

[PasadenaTrudy]

36. Growing up in Pasadena..

Drew Pinsky (young Dr. Drew), lived near us. My brother and his friends had the BB gun out one day and took a shot at him as he was riding by on his bicycle. Scared the bejesus out of him Well, kids you know...

[Tom Ripley]

40. "A cheap holiday in other people's misery" - John Lydon