Will the sixth time be the charm for Lindsay Lohan?
The 26-year-old accepted a plea deal on Monday that will send her to rehab for 90 days, making this Lohan's sixth time in treatment in the past six years.
Judge James Dabney ruled that the "Liz & Dick" actress – who was facing three charges, including lying to police – enter a "lock down" facility, which means she will be working on her sobriety 24/7 and will not be able to leave rehab for any reason.
So what will life be like for Lohan for those 90 days?
Not fun, that's for sure.
“Lock down” rehab is just that … the 26-year-old will not be able to leave the premises for any reason whatsoever, and she will likely not be allowed any visitors.
“Most rehabs, once you’ve been in one or two weeks showing good behavior, they’ll allow family members to come visit or they might even allow a family member to take you out to lunch – and that would be a privilege,” explains Texas-based addiction expert Jennifer Criswell Sartin. But for Lohan, 90 days of “lock down” takes away that privilege.
Why is "lock down" a good idea for Lohan? In the past, the actress had been allowed to leave rehab for filming and come back at the end of the day, which was the case for her first stint in 2007. But by the time she was in treatment for her fifth round, in late 2010, she had grown brazen. In December of that year, Lohan and another patient snuck out of the Betty Ford Center. And when they returned around 1 a.m., a counselor there claims she reeked of alcohol and a scuffle ensued. (The Betty Ford employee later sued Lohan and the two settled out of court last year.)
Now, she won’t even be able to leave for her mandatory meetings, adds Criswell Sartin. “Most rehabs would allow their residents to be accompanied by a staff member to outside AA/12 Step meetings. Being that it will be a lock down facility, it’s likely that they would have members of AA bring their meeting in. They even do that in prisons.”
Lohan’s days in rehab will also likely be very regimented, something she has not been accustomed to lately between her late nights partying and her spotty work schedule. “Most reputable rehabs like that will try to do is get you prepared to transition to ‘normal life,'” says Criswell Sartin. “Lights out at 10 p.m. would be a normal schedule. They’ll probably have to wake up at 6 a.m. and be down with the group at 7 a.m., where they would probably do some prayer and meditation. Addicts sleep until 10 a.m. or noon so it’s to get you out of that routine.”
In addition to learning skills for sobriety, Lohan may even pick up some cooking tips.
“Wherever she went in the past probably had a chef who would come in and cook for them gourmet meals, which is just not normal life,” adds Criswell Sartin. “So a good facility might even have the patients prepare the meals for the group, kind of like a sober-living atmosphere. There will definitely be meal times and it will be healthy eating. Again, addicts and alcoholics don’t eat and when they do, it’s food that is unhealthy. So there will be probably some health and fitness every day, lots of work outside of group time, hopefully a 12-step program. There will be homework!”
And it all comes at a very pretty penny. Although state-run rehab facilities usually cost nothing, Lohan will likely not be checking in to anything that is not high-end. Crisswell Sartin explains that a place on the actress’ spectrum, like Promises in Malibu where she was in 2007 for her second rehab stint, “is upwards of probably $50,000 a month.” And Lohan has to be there three months … that’s around $150,000. If a patient has good insurance, sometimes rehab can be covered up to 80%, but it’s unclear what kind of coverage Lohan has … if she has any at all.
Since Lohan has previously been in rehab five times, what approach will counselors take to make sure the sixth time actually sticks?
“They’re definitely going to focus on relapse prevention,” says Crisswell Sartin. “Probably the biggest hurdle in this case is going to be if she’s willing to change … Her mindset is ‘I do not have a problem. I have been in the wrong place at wrong time. I’ve had bad luck happening to me’" – which was exemplified by Lohan hitting the Hollywood club scene hard just hours after her trial on Monday. “I have a strong feeling that she does not believe that she has an addiction problem … There’s a huge part of therapy which is taking responsibility for actions. Breaking through the denial would probably be the best approach to take in the beginning.”
Time will tell if the upcoming rehab stint finally does the trick … or if Lohan falls back into the same patterns.
The Many Faces Of Addiction.
The Many Faces of Addiction
By Shannon Stewart Salinsky
How a casual drink becomes a real problem.
How a minor injury from a workout leads to addiction so gripping that it causes you to lose
everything.
How your teenager takes something she perceives to be a “natural herb” and is rushed to
the E.R. moments later.
“I was losing a lot of weight and feeling very depressed. Since I was going through a
divorce at the time, everyone around me assumed that’s what the issue was,” said
Bethany, 34 years old of Colleyville. Bethany worked in a professional career which gave
her the opportunity to have access to pain medication. “I worked under the influence for at
least a year. I put others at risk. I used my professional position to obtain pills. In the end,
this part of my addiction is what brought me to my knees because a coworker figured out
what I was doing. This same coworker, or now as I call him my guardian angel, went to
my family,” she said.
“I used Heroin for a year right under my parent’s nose. Although I had severe weight loss,
was extremely moody, and had become disengaged in sports and other activities, they
had no idea what was happening,” said Mark, 17 years old of Grapevine. He first tried
Marijuana at age 15 and it lead to other, harder drugs, which is common among drug
users. “I had a lot of freedom and I my parents gave me plenty of spending money. This
combination, at a time when I was a bored teenager was not a good mix.”
Lori of Southlake is a full-time mom in her thirties. “I did not have problems with alcohol
abuse until after college. Everyone around me was “slowing down” from their partying
days and I wasn’t ready for the party to stop. A little later in my life I noticed a pattern of
excessive drinking after I had endured miscarriage as a way to numb the pain. My family
and husband expressed their concern over my drinking, but I was still in complete denial.”
In 2011, she got a DWI and said this was her eye-opening event.
Addiction comes in many faces. K2 is a synthetic Marijuana. Also known as Spice, K2
sounds like a cool, hip, and frankly innocent things to consume. Alcohol seems rather
benign on the surface as well. Many of us have a few casual drinks each week or a glass
of wine every night. It must be perfectly fine because even the medical community has
been known to recommend a glass a day for a healthy heart. How can a prescription be a
bad thing? After all, the doctor says you need it. But when does a little start to get
excessive? At what point does your social drink become your crutch for dealing with the
stress in your life? When you should wean yourself off the Hydrocodone, you find that you
need it more now than you did right after your surgery.
Hitting Too Close to Home
Jennifer Sartin, MS, Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor (LCDC) of Keller knows
first-hand the struggles of addiction and the importance of finding and maintaining a
successful recovery. She has been in recovery herself for over a decade. She doesn’t just
talk the talk, she has walked the walk. Her clients express that her ability to truly
understand their pain and struggles is what resonated with them to contact her. Sartin
often works just as closely with the family as she does with the client. She believes in the
importance of educating the family to better understand addiction and its challenges;
therefore, conveying the importance of their involvement and support for the recovering
person.
In January of 2013 our community was shocked when two students from Southlake
Carroll High School were discovered dead. Authorities reportedly found drug
paraphernalia on the scene.
Sartin remembers all too well a story from not long ago. In May, over 100 people were
treated between Dallas and Austin within a 48-hour time frame for overdoses of what
doctors suspect was K2. When a bad batch is manufactured and sold throughout a
region, hundreds of people may consume it over a short period of time. In this case, it
caused numerous trips to emergency rooms spanning from Austin to Dallas.
Spice/K2 Explained
The Office of National Drug Control Policy states that Spice/K2 is a wide variety of herbal
mixtures that produce experiences similar to marijuana (cannabis) and that are marketed
as "safe," legal alternatives to that drug. Experts say it’s similar to Marijuana but its effects
are actually much stronger. Sold under many names, including K2, fake weed, Yucatan
Fire, Skunk, Moon Rocks, and others — and labeled "not for human consumption" —
these products contain dried, shredded plant material and chemical additives that are
responsible for psychoactive (mind-altering) effects.
“It is a never-ending pattern in which the drug manufacturers quickly alter the chemical
makeup of the banned drug – in essence producing a drug that appears new – therefore,
it creates a situation that is extremely challenging for law enforcement to regulate,” Sartin
said. She strongly believes the term synthetic Marijuana is very misleading as this drug is
far more dangerous than Marijuana. “The fact that it has been obtained legally at ‘head
shops’ can also portray it to be much less harmful than it really is.”
The effects of K2/Spice include severe agitation and anxiety, nausea, vomiting,
tachycardia (fast, racing heartbeat), elevated blood pressure, tremors and seizures,
hallucinations, dilated pupils, and suicidal and other harmful thoughts and/or actions.
Teens and Marijuana
Teenagers’ views on Marijuana, the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S., seem to
be changing likely as a result of the legalization of recreational use in Oregon and
Colorado. Twenty states now allow the sale of medical marijuana.
“The majority of teens that I have worked with recently not only discount the negative
effects of Marijuana, but many consider it healthy or medicinal,” said Sartin. “We know
from well-documented studies that Marijuana is particularly harmful to the still-developing
brains of young people. Studies report that Marijuana use is connected to changes in
teenage brain development, which can result in cognitive impairment, memory problems,
and IQ loss. The potency of Marijuana has increased dramatically over the years with
significantly higher levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) than ever before.”
Teens and Prescriptions
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), every day in the United States,
an average of 2,000 teenagers use prescription drugs without a doctor's order for the first
time. Among teenagers 12 to 17 years old, 14.8% of high school seniors reported
nonmedical use of prescription medications last year. According to the 2012 Monitoring
the Future survey, prescription and over-the-counter drugs are among the most
commonly abused drugs by 12th graders, after alcohol, Marijuana, Spice/K2, and
tobacco. Youth who abuse prescription medications are also more likely to report use of
other drugs.
“Another misconception of teens is that prescription drugs are safer to abuse than other
drugs,” Sartin said. Teenagers tend to think ‘If they are prescribed by a doctor, they can’t
be that bad.’ “The most commonly abused prescription drugs are pain medications
(hydrocodone, OxyContin, codeine), sleeping pills (Valium, Restoril, Ambien), anti-anxiety
medications (Xanax, Ativan), and stimulants which are used to treat Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin).
The majority of both teens and young adults obtain prescription drugs they abuse from
friends and relatives, sometimes without their knowledge. And according to the 2012
Monitoring the Future survey, about 50 percent of high school seniors said that opioid
drugs other than heroin (e.g., Hydrocodone) would be fairly or very easy to get. Sartin
said that is also common to obtain prescription drugs over the internet without a
prescription. “This is another reason to monitor your children’s internet activities,” she
said.
Alcohol Addiction
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, alcoholism or alcohol dependence is a
diagnosable disease characterized by a strong craving for alcohol, and/or continued use
despite harm or personal injury. Alcohol abuse, which can lead to dependence, is a
pattern of drinking that results in harm to one's health, interpersonal relationships, or
ability to work.
Sartin said that often the high school students report ‘hanging out’ at a friend’s house with
the parents present and fully aware of the underage drinking – with the attitude of ‘as long
as it’s happening under my roof at least I know they are safe’.
“The truth is that young people who begin drinking before age 15 have a much higher risk
of developing alcoholism than those who wait until age 21,” she said. “Teens who grow up
with parents who are supportive, involve themselves, and talk to them are much less
likely to abuse alcohol than their peers.”
Women and Alcoholism
The nation was stunned when ABC’s 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas recently
acknowledged she was an alcoholic and said hiding her problem had been “exhausting.”
Vargas told Good Morning America co-anchor George Stephanopoulos in a recent
interview, "I am. I am an alcoholic.” She went on to report to Stephanopoulous that it took
her a long time to admit it herself and to her family.
Appearing on a lot in parenting magazines and on mommy blogs lately is the
proclamation that "Mommy needs her nightly glass (or two, or three) of grape juice."
That's what we call it in front of the children; it is only when they ask for a sip and we
shout "NO! It's not that kind of juice!" do our children begin to understand that our grape
juice is different from theirs. And as moms, we work very hard every day either as a mom
in the home, a work-from-home, or a career mom. We've become to feel as if we deserve
that glass of wine. And frankly, maybe we do.
“Heavy drinking can take years to progress to alcoholism,” Sartin said. “It is sometimes
triggered by an event or trauma. Women can be especially sensitive to the stigma of
being alcoholic, therefore they are much more hesitant to admit they have a drinking
problem and subsequently ask for help.”
What we have to ask ourselves is, when is it too much? Am I becoming dependent on it?
Am I substituting talking to my spouse or my best friend about something stressful in my
life and choosing to drown it in my "mommy juice” instead?
Signs of Addiction
The signs of addiction might be subtle at first. Using alcohol to relieve stress is probably
one of the easiest signs to miss, and frankly, to deny. Many of us do it in some form or
fashion. Neglecting responsibility is easier to see in others than it is to see in ourselves.
Those who have begun to perform poorly at work, school or in other areas of their lives
may have an addiction issue. Another signal might be someone flirting with dangerous
situations such as driving after a night of heavy drinking or driving with children in the car
after several drinks.
Defensive behavior (when questioned about a possible addiction), mood swings, and
becoming easily agitated are all indications of a possible addiction. Relationships may
become strained with someone who is addicted.
Physical symptoms range from sudden weight gain or loss, changes in sleeping patters, a
sudden usage of eye drops, changes in appetite, or a sudden avoidance in prolonged eye
contact.
Getting Help
Asking for help is sometimes so tough because admitting it to yourself may be the hardest
part. You’re a professional, a volunteer at church, a popular teenager who’s a straight-A
student and president of the Student Council, so how can you have a problem? Addiction
has a grip so tight almost nothing else matters except the next high or the next hit.
Consulting with an addiction professional is always a great place to start. They can help
determine the appropriate level of care whether it be inpatient, outpatient, individual
counseling, or Twelve Step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The family is
strongly encouraged to participate in the recovery program. Family participation often
helps because unhealthy patterns must be broken. Many times the families may not
realize that they too have become part of the cycle; often times it is passed down from
generations before. The most classic example of this type of dysfunction in a family is
someone who enables the one who is addicted.
“Clients whose families are involved in their treatment tend to have better outcomes.
Often the families get just as sick as the person addicted and also require intensive
counseling,” commented Sartin.
“I came home from work one day to my entire family sitting in my living room,” Bethany
said. “Thankfully my coworker told my family with his suspicions and they confronted me.
I broke down into tears because it felt so good to have everything out in the open. But
even then, I was in denial. I told them I could work through it with outpatient therapy, but
they adamantly insisted that I go to an inpatient program.” In the end, Bethany said that
inpatient therapy was the only way for her to get the help she needed. She said she felt
physically ill when she was not on the pain medication which caused her to take more. “I
realized later that my entire life was a lie. I was fooling everyone, but most of all myself.
Everyone thought I had it all together, but I was in severe, emotional pain,” Bethany said.
Mark got his wake up call when he was arrested by federal agents and sent to juvenile
detention. “It was there that I hit rock bottom. Juvenile detention is not a place you want to
be.” He said that after having time to think about things, he soon realized that his friends
were not “friends” at all and that he truly wanted to get his life on back on track. “Parents
should absolutely check up on their children, do a random spot search of their vehicle,
their room, and even on their cell phone. Giving your teenagers tons of freedom and
spending money may not the best thing to do.”
Lori said that in the beginning, she didn’t realize that recovery is not really about
abstaining from alcohol. “It’s about changing the way that you think about life and
processing life events. The changes that you make are small and slow and, at first, may
not be clear. However, as you progress through the recovery process, you start to notice
how you see situations differently than you did before and that is when you know you are
making progress and making changes for the better,” she said.
So, will I have my usual glass of red wine with dinner Friday night? Absolutely. Will I go
for a second glass? Maybe. But one thing I won’t do is think addiction can’t happen to me.
I’ll keep myself and those I love in check. When my toddler becomes older, I will learn
who her friends are and where they hang out. I will be engaged and involve myself. From
time to time I’ll check out her bedroom, her car and her cell phone for anything
suspicious, not because I don’t trust her, but because I love her.
Resources referenced for this article:
Jennifer Sartin, MS, LCDC, of AlcoholandAddictionSupport.com. (817) 381-8227.
National Institute of Drug Abuse
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Drug Enforcement Administration
Resources:
? Valley of Hope in Grapevine is a nonprofit drug and alcohol rehab facility offering
inpatient and outpatient services at an affordable price. Valley of Hope is located
at 2300 William D. Tate Ave. Grapevine, Texas 76051. Phone: (817) 424-1305.
ValleyHope.org
? Jennifer Sartin, MS, LCDC, is an addiction counselor located in Keller, Texas.
Phone: (817) 381-8227 AlcoholandAddictionSupport.com
? Enterhealth is a drug and alcohol treatment center. Enterhealth’s medically driven
alcohol addiction treatment and drug rehabilitation treatment offers personalized
residential and outpatient programs in Texas, uniquely suited to where you are in
your recovery journey. Enterhealth Ranch is located in Van Alstyne, Texas.
Phone: 800-388-4601. Enterhealth.com
? Right Step is an affordable drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment center. Right
Step offers intervention, detox, inpatient residential, day treatment, intensive
outpatient treatment, and sober living, along with aftercare services and the
ongoing support of alumni groups. The nearest location is at 2219 West Euless
Bvd. Euless, Texas 76040. Phone: 877-959-4278. Rightstep.com
? Recovery Resource Council is a private nonprofit organization. It was founded in
November 1957, under the name Fort Worth Council on Alcoholism, to address
the need for substance abuse education and referral for treatment in North Texas.
It is located at 2700 Airport Freeway Fort Worth, Texas 76111. Phone: 817-332-
6329. RecoveryCouncil.org
Names and identifying references were changed to protect confidentiality