There once was a time when the only rehab that was on the radar was for alcohol or drug abuse. Something has shifted over the years. People go to rehab for everything from overeating to sex, but there's a new addiction on the horizon. This week Chynna Phillips announced that she's in rehab for anxiety. I know that panic attacks & severe stress can wreck havoc on a person's body, mind and spirit. The solution used to be taking a yoga class or learning to mediate. Or going on a long vacation or getting a new job to help relieve some of the stress. Is anxiety really a disease that requires rehab? Now I'm curious about what actually takes place in this kind of facility. "Hi. My name is Chynna and I'm a stress monger..."
I'm not trying to make light of Ms. Phillips situation. She could be dealing with something very serious like a nervous breakdown for all we know. I do feel like there's some key information missing from her story. I'm just wondering why in the good ole USA are there rehabs for just about anything that ails you? And are these afflictions truly classified as a disease? Is having 27 mistresses at once really an ailment or the result of a sense of entitlement & power?
Turn on your TV and there are drugs on the market for all kinds of conditions now referred to as a "disease." Take acid reflux and dry eye. I had tons of both when I was pregnant. It was the result of hormones, having a very big belly and eating too many cannolis. Both magically disappeared after I gave birth and dropped 40 pounds.
My point, and I do have one is that it seems to me that many Americans are looking for the easy way out. Label my condition a disease or an addiction and suddenly, it's not my fault and I do not have to truly take responsibility for it. I can take a drug or go to rehab and it will all just go away or at least ease the pain. Am I being too harsh on this subject matter? What's your take on this subject? Thanks Robin for letting me guest blog!
On my God!
ReplyDeleteAnxiety rehab? Your own lyrics Ms Phillips...
You've got no one to blame for your unhappiness
You got yourself into your own mess
Lettin' your worries pass you by
Don't you think it's worth your time
To change your mind?
As long as there are people out there who can work the "angles" and figure out how to make a buck out of it, there will be places like this one. The same holds true for all the pills on the market today....money is at the root of it all. In addition, our society is one that wants fast and easy answers to complex problems. Make the "fix" quick and easy. People have seen celebrities do it all the time, in magazine stories, online and on TV and want the same for themselves. And, Dawn, the answer is emphatically "No!" You are not being too harsh.
ReplyDeletei agree, you are not being too harsh at all. i think you're right that people are just looking for an easy way out and look for someone, or in this case something, to blame instead of themselves. of course there are real problems... but this is not one of them.
ReplyDeletewhat a great blog dawn! there are a lot of people (inside and outside of hollywood) who have real mental, physical and psychological issues. for those people, recognizing they have a problem is often the first step and seeking help is commendable.
ReplyDeletethat being said, it seems that clinic-chic has taken over hollywood. one has to wonder if the exhaustion, anxiety and sex addictions are real issues or pr ploys to either get in the news or excuse bad behavior? now, for those celebs who are sick and are getting help good for you...but for the others, you are minimalizing the help others are getting or need to get.
in a stand up act that bill maher did in the 80's he said that soon everyone would be seeking help for every little thing in their life. i will end on one of his lines: "hi i'm bill, and i'm a birth survivor." "hi bill."
it's pretty ridiculous. try getting laid off, losing your health insurance and trying to keep your home. now that will surely give you anxiety. oh, but wait, you can't get help because there's no public healthcare. dang. shut the eff up chynna phillips.
ReplyDeleteI think:
ReplyDeleteWhen things are overflowed, we forget how we survived when we had nothing.
When we did not have meds for everything to fix us, our body tried to build up our immune system stronger.
When there wasn't a name for every symptom, we regards those as a natural symptom, not as "unusual". We did not make any fuss about it.
Now, we get more than what we need. There are meds for everything. There are names for evey symptom.
When we have a problem, we become so weak and helpless that only we can think about is to ask for help. Yet, do we try to solve our problem by ourselves first?
Since there are so many therapies/rehabilitations/counselling/meds which we can easily reach to, we started rely on them without trying hard.
Of course, there are some serious problems which people need "professional" helps. Yet, I somehow feel that taking sessions/meds shows that we already give up trying.
Yes, I know even taking session/meds requires our "devotion"; patience, time and money.