Rehab rant

There was a story in the news yesterday about Mark Foley , the Florida congressman who sent sexually explicit text messages, IM’s, and emails to an adolescent male page. Accompanying this story was another that says Republican Party leaders knew about this but didn’t address the issue when it was brought to their attention nine months ago. I’m not going to talk about this scandal specifically because I don’t think there are too many people who would support his behavior but I am going to rant a bit about his solution: rehab.

Why is it that when people in the public eye get in trouble, they always claim some sort of substance abuse problem and enter rehabilitation? Do they think that everyone will understand and forgive him because they went to rehab? If indeed Former Representative Foley is an alcoholic he should seek treatment but you’d think that perhaps he’d have done it back when Republican leadership was questioning him about it the first time around. Or maybe even BEFORE he thought it was appropriate to harass a page? He needs to take responsibility for his action and not blame it on alcohol.

Mel Gibson, Patrick Kennedy (most of the Kennedy clan likely qualify here), Rush Limbaugh, Kate Moss and who knows how many musicians and sports figures have followed this path. Now, I don’t doubt that the pressures in these people’s lives are somewhat greater than the average person and I also don’t doubt they turn to drugs and alcohol to escape but I resent that they look at rehab as a solution to their publicity problems and expect forgiveness because they’ve finally taken action. If someone was drunk and killed or injured a member of your family, would you forgive the person because they admitted they had a problem and entered treatment? Most people would not. It’s not as though the results of their irresponsible actions are erased by treatment.

These situations also misrepresent substance abuse treatment. I work in the substance abuse field and residential treatment, the type all these famous people seek, is actually a level of treatment that is reserved for those with the most serious addiction problems. And you aren’t “cured” when you exit the program. Most people aren’t aware that most substance abuse treatment is provided on an outpatient basis of varying intensity and that most people who receive treatment end up seeking further treatment at a later date. It’s not much different from other chronic health problems such as diabetes – you’ve got to change your lifestyle and address the issues leading to your disease and it may take awhile to fully address the problem. The biggest difference is the stigma attached to the problem.

Again I digress. My main point here is that people need to take responsibility for their actions and people in leadership roles need to set the standard. And I don’t want to hear any excuses.