I COMPLETELY AGREE.
You guys absolutely must read the piece Sex Rehab cast member Duncan Roy wrote at The Daily Beast. It was no surprise to me that he shuns Dr. Drew and the entire “televised rehab” process. I’ve talked more than once about my enormous distaste for Dr. Drew Pinsky, whom I believe exploits addicts at their most vulnerable time to create fame and fortune for himself. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fame is an addiction, one that is every bit as destructive to most of these people as their relationships with drugs, alcohol or sex. Dr. Drew wouldn’t treat someone for their alcoholism by encouraging them to smoke marijuana every night, and he shouldn’t be treating Z-list celebrities for their alcoholism by offering them a television show. It’s unethical and it disgusts me. It’s one thing to do when you’re an asshole Hollywood producer, and another thing entirely to do under the guise of being a medical doctor who took the Hippocratic oath. UGH. Okay, rant over. Here’s a snippet from Duncan’s piece:
Our primary care givers were Dr. Drew and sex therapist Jill Vermeire. My first meeting with either of them happened the evening of the first day of treatment. Jill was telegenic, slightly tattooed, and her breasts fit snugly in duchess satin shifts. Drew was ruggedly handsome and built—a gray fox. It was immediately apparent that while Drew may be an astounding drug and alcohol specialist, he knows very little, or anything, about the precise science of sex addiction. More disturbingly, he does not believe in God, which is a fundamental prerequisite to any 12-step program. (He admitted to me that he is an atheist.)
In the U.S., doctors enjoy a cultural omnipotence, a perception that they do nothing to disabuse. Drew’s role as America’s kindly uncle masks Dr. Omnipotent superhero! He would recycle Jill’s lines when he began to founder—and in the edited broadcasts, we see her thoughts and insights come out of Drew’s mouth. It comes as no surprise that Drew writes about narcissism because he genuinely wrestles with his own.
In fairness, Duncan does admit that he received quality therapy on the show — from every therapist other than Dr. Drew. But he makes some interesting revelations on the show — that all of the women were porn stars “discovered” by the same enterprising, “reptilian” Hollywood manager, that Kari Ann Peniche (from the Eric Dane/Rebecca Gayheart sex tape) failed every one of her drug tests and was allowed to remain in the house, and that one of key therapists that he signed on to work with wasn’t even that involved with the show by the end:
They persuaded me to meet Dr. John Sealy, one of the most important sex therapists in California who was affiliated with the show and would also be occasionally treating the cast members and act as the show consultant. I liked and trusted him, but again I said no to the producers. Interestingly, during that meeting Sealy confided in me that the producers of Sex Rehab had very different intentions from his. He genuinely wanted to shine a light into the shaming world of sex addiction, while Irwin Entertainment seemed hellbent on drama and titillation. (As it turned out, Sealy’s involvement on the show was minimal because he was awkward in front of the cameras, and not nearly as televisual as reality TV demands.)
Argh. I cannot sigh audibly enough over all this. I find the entire suite of Dr. Drew’s VH1 shows utterly unwatchable, because they make me so angry. It’s one thing to fuck with people’s lives when they come to you looking to do anything for fame, and it’s another entirely when they come to you looking for help and you know, as a doctor, that they need it.
I’m a recovering addict and I found my sobriety without the help of God. The 12 steps are a good basis for understanding and overcoming your addiction but its not the end-all-be-all of recovery, and finding God isn’t a requirement either. Though I don’t agree with Dr.Drew exploiting these addicts, which I agree he does, I don’t think him being an atheist should effect their rehabilitation either way.
Agreed. I blame God for most of my bad habits, like smoking and excessive drinking, but I thank him every day for my sex addiction and allowing me to sample so much poontang like most people sample ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Praise God!
Good for you Lilly, that’s great.
I stopped reading when he said Dr Drew is an atheist as if it were something bad. I’m an atheist, and I live my life the best I can – I’ve never stolen, killed or anything along those lines. Probably my atheist family and me behave much better than many so-called Christians out there. There’s nothing bad in not believing. Why do you have to find God? You can recover without believing in a deity, plenty of people do it.
My comment is also about the rehab participant’s comment that believing in God is a fundamental prerequisite for the 12-step process. He needs to meditate a while on what the term “Higher Power” means. It’s not mutually exclusive with the concept of God.
My husband is 29 years clean and sober with the help of 12-step programs and does not believe in God the way others want him to believe. The participant’s comment is way off base, and probably stems from his long experience in 12-step programs (I’m gonna guess 3-10 years, but a lot of folks go to meetings yet fail to completely comprehend what’s going on).
Duncan works in the industy. Did he really think that Hollywood all of a sudden developed ethics and morality, in lieu of ratings, entertainment and money?
Duncan’s article was absurd. I actually saw him promote the show with Drew on Joy Behar’s show. He @loved@ talking about himself (it was a snore) and he certainly didn’t make any of these arguements when Drew was sitting right next to him.
And to throw in his “sprawling Malibu estate” and that hunks are just throwing themselves at him — please. He had to crowbar that into a critique of reality TV therapy? The topic deserves better.
He also went on Love Line with Drew and another of the Sex Rehab patients. Maybe it was in their contract or something but I am pretty sure that they were the only two from the show to go on Love Line with Drew. He seemed pretty happy with Drew and the treatment then, I wonder what made him change his mind…
Like others, I was also pretty put off by his remark that Dr. Drew is somehow less qualified to assist in rehab because he is an atheist. Please, I can’t sigh loud enough about that!
“More disturbingly, he does not believe in God, which is a fundamental prerequisite to any 12-step program.”
Along with the others, I’ll take everything he says with a grain of salt after that comment. It’s nice to see one of these 12 steppers admit publicly that it’s a religion based program, despite their clever use of semantics.
I agree. I have been naive as I thought “higher power” could mean anything you wanted it to as per your belief or non-belief system.
I don’t feel like reading the article but I cannot stand “Dr” Drew either. I don’t think he’s a good man.
Complain to station manager.. but, hey it’s free rehab? It’s not like these addicts live secretive private lives annoying and disgusting everyone around them. Amy Winehouse, George Michael and Pete Doherty comes to mind.
Preach it Beet!!! Dr. Drew is a fuckwad
Most or all of these “reality” shows are scripted and fake. Hello? Z- list celebs; there real addiction is FAME. A paycheck is nice too.
“their”
it’s good info
I have been in 12 steps programs for over 25 years and sober.
1) The overwhelming majority of people who have addictions of any sort never recover
2) Belief in God is not required. The original 12 step program, AA, a chapter to the Agnostic. People can believe in anything including the group itself. It must be something spiritual that they really believe in….no diety required.
3) This is a televised reality show with celebrities. Dr Drew himself is a celebrity. It may be a made for TV interpretation of recovery, but it is not recovery. Recovery is much more sloppy, painful, time consuming and personal. TV is for drama. People watch TV for drama.
Sex addiction is a real brain disease and one that should not be trivialized. It is unfortunate that addictions like this are laughed at and made fun of but yet those suffering from it, want to be burried alive. This article about sex addiction issues like pornography, etc… explains why addiction is a brain disease. InnerGold has been treating sexual addiction before the media started to acknowledge that it was a real addiction. Even now this debate goes on while people are looking for hope.
Learn more: Sex Addiction is a Brain Disease
Wow, I just observed this website and invested the final 40+ mintes studying blog posts. This poor boy it should in my dailt examine listing for positive. A+!
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Dr. Drew is a fake and has never helped anyone. He isn’t even a good tv host on his idiotic show. He should stop interrupting his guests to go off on his dramatic rants. He’s pathetic at this point.