Maybe Dennis Rodman is an alcoholic. Rather, maybe he has in the past exhibited excessive behavior, and he acquiesced on tonight's episode of "Celebrity Rehab" simply to get everyone off his back about "admitting" his addiction. Or, maybe he declared his addiction to fit in with everybody. Despite his uncommunicative attitude, I see him as a very social guy who genuinely likes most everyone at the Pasadena Recovery Center. Either way, for one reason or another Dennis Rodman has officially labeled himself an alcoholic.
What bothered me about tonight's storyline with Dennis was the immense pressure that was being put on him to admit he has an addiction. Several times the cameras artfully singled him out, during Morning Meditation and the "alumni visit," to dramatize the fact that he was the only one who had yet to label himself for life. Shelly always begins their Morning Meditations by starting the round: "Hi, I'm Shelly, I'm an alcoholic." Next? Mike: addict, Whoever-that-muscly-guy-is: addict, Heidi: sucking the teat of addiction dry, and Dennis? Still "just Dennis." Frustrated, both Dr. Drew and Shelly express concern that Dennis does not open up to them or anyone else about his drug and alcohol use, and without transparency, how can the good doctor help him overcome the demons? Despite being left in the dark about the nature of his "disease," they continue to push him to admit he has the addiction. But why? How could they know he has an addiction if he doesn't give them that information? Simply because he is in the recovery center? And why is he there? Because the court sent him there. If we all took on the identities that the justice system gave us, we'd all really be those no-good, fucked up tumors on society they seem to think we are.
Dr. Drew mentioned in tonight's episode, during their group meeting, that addiction is the only disease that people need to be "convinced" of having. Yes, that's what we should be doing, pushing disease and disorder on people. I'm understanding that the whole point of admitting addiction in counseling is to recognize the personal struggle and consciously work toward overcoming it. I'll reiterate what I talked about in my last CR review, and that is that even though someone may exhibit undesired and destructive behavior, identifying with the undesirable behavior merely reinforces and empowers it. I don't believe it's "denial" to refuse to call yourself an addict if you don't always want to be an addict. Calling myself a bitch even though I really don't want to keep acting like a bitch is only going to allow the part of me that identifies with a bitch to continue to manifest.
This is why I was slightly disappointed when Dennis, at the end of the episode, staked out his spot in the sand of addiction. Everyone was happy for him. Immediately after my feeling of disappointment I wondered if maybe it is good for him. Maybe he does see himself that way and wanted to fit in with the fellow patients. Maybe it was a breakthrough for him to recognize this weakness that he had never seen before. Or maybe he was just seduced by the ease of giving in. Who knows? He didn't open up to Dr. Drew, he certainly hasn't opened up to me. But considering Dr. Drew's statement that people must be thwarted into seeing the so-called "reality" of their addiction, I wouldn't be surprised if rehab really creates more addicts than it checks in.
No comments:
Post a Comment