In case you missed it (like I did), the new season of Celebrity Rehab began a couple of weeks ago. I’m just now catching up, and in the process of trying to watch everything on VH1.com, ran across a blog post about Drew Pinsky and his interview in GQ magazine.
When Vargas-Cooper asks Pinsky if putting troubled, narcissistic people in front of a camera as they endure the recovery process, he justifies that, saying “Here’s the thing: These are unmotivated people who want to be on TV and make money. …

The other day, a friend and I were playing the “which professional on Celebrity Rehab would you be?” game.  You know… kind of like “which Sex & the City character are you most like?” or “who would you want as your partner on Dancing with the Stars?” — but a little less mainstream.  In fact, I’m lucky to have friends that will tolerate this “game,” since my husband is not a fan of the show (to say the least) and always answers “none of them.”  Grr.
Anyway, while discussing Bob Forest, …

Dr. Drew made a comment a couple of episodes back (Ep. 306 “Triggers”) that I was pretty surprised to hear:
“Addiction is the only disease that you have to convince people that they have.”
I highly disagree with this statement, and think that denial is a large part of many mental illnesses… and even some physical illnesses. Just to name a few:

eating disorders
personality disorders
depression
ptsd
dementia

Sometimes people just don’t want to admit that they’re struggling with a mental illness (maybe they think it means they’re a weak or defective person). Sometimes people …

This is a danger in all group therapy of being the “best worst”. If you can’t be the best, best you can always be the “best worst”. Anyone who has been inpatient knows what I’m talking about. There are some patients that want to make sure you know that their eating disorder is the worst.

While I do have several new posts on the way, I want to highlight a couple of older Grey Thinking posts (some are several years old!  I bet you were not reading GT two years ago) that talk specifically about treatment, your attitude toward treatment, recovery expectations, etc.  While there are a couple of people that I have in mind when it comes to the subject of these posts, I think that everyone can use the refresher.
You as your own case manager
Originally Posted: 01/01/2009
I wish that all these …

Since I have a serious Dr. Drew Pinsky addiction (irony intended), I was really sad when his podcast was cancelled.  Thankfully, Celebrity Rehab 2 and Sober House came out shortly after the podcast ended, so I was able to watch those repeatedly for awhile. When VH1 stopped running CR2, I read his books.  Now, having exhausted all of those Dr. Drew resources, I am listening to Loveline.  This kills me a little bit, for several reasons:

It’s called Loveline
Half of it is sex talk
I have to pay $5 …

I’d never heard of a “Sober Coach” until watching VH1′s “Sober House.” In the last episode (I think), Will, who is Seth’s Sober Coach, accompanies him to his first concert and make sure that nothing happens to jeopardize his sobriety. While watching this I thought, “Well that’s convenient — I could use someone protecting me from anything eating disordered.”
Upon thinking about it a little more, though, I wasn’t sure what this Anti-ED Coach would protect me from. Would he make sure no one served me diet coke? …

It’s been a little while since I talked about Celebrity Rehab, but I have been meaning to write about Gary Busey’s “Buseyisms” (by the way, I highly recommend that you watch this — it’s less than two minutes long).  Buseyisms are really just made-up acronyms.  Backward acronyms, I guess, but you start with the acronym and come up with the meaning to match the letters.
I’m sure you’ve heard these before… like FINE – Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional.  Now, look at a few of Gary’s…
Doubt – Debating On Understanding Bewildering …

“I wish that all these guys were going to stay clean, I really do. I’ve just seen it so many times that I can tell when someone’s really willing to do whatever it takes and when someone’s willing to do what they think it should take. And it’s just not going to work like that, unfortunately.”
–Shelly, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew 2

I was watching Celebrity Rehab 2 online tonight (since I’m a little behind), and these words from Shelley really caught my attention. There are so many …

Treatment can feel like a never-ending game of Monopoly… and I don’t know about you, but Monopoly is not fun for me after the first couple of hours.