A conversation with addictions expert/rehab entrepreneur Dr. Drew Pinsky

Dr. Drew Pinsky (known familiarly as Dr. Drew) is the pre-eminent expert on drug addiction and alcoholism in this country.  He is most famous for his TV show Celebrity Rehab, whose patients boast a relapse rate below 80%, and a death rate below 15%.

AddictionMyth sat down recently with Dr. Drew for an intimate conversation conducted entirely by mental telepathy.

AddictionMyth: First of all you are my HP, so I want to thank you for the strength you give to me daily.  It’s really an honor to be communing with you.  In your interview on Huffington Post, you quote a patient: “I can’t even tell when I’m bullshitting anymore.”  You acknowledge that drug addicts are notorious liars.  Does the lying precede the addiction?  Could it be that the addiction itself is a lie?

Dr. Drew: Perhaps I hadn’t really considered that.  But these people really are suffering, and that’s no lie.

AM: Your show Celebrity Rehab has a death rate around 13%.  Do you think that your promotion of the 12 Step brainwashing cults as ‘treatment’ for addiction can actually create devastating addiction for the actors on the show, who are told to believe that they are powerless?

DD: I doubt it.  Why would someone willingly believe they were powerless?  That’s just crazy.  If they really were just acting they would deserve an Oscar for their performance!

AM: Why do you think that choosing a god and praying to it to remove your ‘character defects’ is a valid medical treatment?  How does this work exactly?

DD: Well that I don’t know exactly.  I’m a doctor not a priest.

AM: Is is possible that addiction is completely fake, and you are being played for a fool by some, and brainwashing others into a deadly self-deception?

DD: Lol perhaps but I’m makin’ major bank!

 

42 thoughts on “A conversation with addictions expert/rehab entrepreneur Dr. Drew Pinsky”

  1. Addiction is a disease manifested in the brains of those afflicted. Diagnoses include BiPolar Disorder, ADHD… The alcoholic, drug user, overeater, co-depentants, gambler, people like us who can’t put their mobile device down, all have one thing in common. Addiction. We use the 12-step program to “cure us.” Bill Wilson, the “founder of AA” and the 12-step program was influenced by the teachings of The Oxford group, a non-denominatial group whose members supported Adolf Hitler. Bill Wilson had severe OCD. He was addicted to alcohol, tobacco, but most disturbing was that he was a sexual deviant. His numerous affairs and sexual abuse was covered up. He also smoked himself to death. The last thing he asked for on his death bed was a drink. When he didn’t get one he attacked one of the nurses. Still believe in him and his teachings?

  2. My boyfriend is a recovering alcoholic of 31 years and I thought attending AA is a part of a cult I don’t understand those people his behavior is unlike a normal person he has broken up with me claiming he has to be true to himself and he only seeks advice from other AA members who give him the wrong advice I’m devastated when he broke up with me right before memorial weekend had plans to go to San Diego ditched me and he claims he is mentally checked out I need help to understand that anyone with input or advice please

    1. Sorry to break it to you, but this is man’s normal behavior. He decides he wants out of a relationship and looks for any excuse to avoid having to take responsibility. It’s particularly easy for alcoholics, of course, because they need only say, “I must do this for my sobriety, and my sobriety comes first.” Give him some freedom, and perhaps he’ll come back. But yes it’s a cult and therefore his behavior will be unpredictable. Personally, my advice is if someone tells you they have ‘long term sobriety’, run!

      1. Thanks for the advice but it is hard to comprehend and understand how one can be influenced by other AA members and explain to me what does it mean in an alcoholic brain they mentally checked out

      2. And why do you say run if they are long time sober????? I don’t understand alcoholics, Iam a normal person

      3. Alcoholism is just a lie: “I wanted to stop drinking but couldn’t.” LOL of course they could they just didn’t want to. Drinking is a great excuse for mischief and fun. Therefore ‘sobriety’ is a lie too: “If I drink again I will die” and they use that threat to hold people (like you) hostage. Yes he can drink, he just rather hold it over people’s heads in case he needs to pull out the ‘sobriety’ card. Like he did with you. Look, no one is perfect, I’m just saying that being ‘alcoholic in long term recovery’ is just a ready excuse to lie about stuff. Let him go, he’ll come back if it was meant to be.

      4. Thanks again, by all means I will let him go, I’m smart, educated with two degrees under my belt, also beautiful I can do better than that. I was just confused, never dated someone like him. I was looking for answers about their behavior, I thought I was the odd one.

      5. LOL well of course they promote their cult with pious reverence. It’s massive hypocrisy. And of course they want to make their victims think they are at fault. That’s how it works, and we’ve been falling for it for decades. But like I said, all people are like that to some extent, but alcoholics are professionals. Just go to your local AA meeting and listen to drunkalogs, you will hear this same story over and over!

      6. I have been to many AA meetings with him and yes heard the same over and over and they all have the same empty look, it was nauseating. As u used to sit through the meeting trying to tune them out and think to my self what a cult they are all sucked in to Lol

    2. Powerless over alcohol means an alcoholic can’t stop on their own willpower after one drink. I’ve tried on my own many times and it doesn’t work. With the steps and giving away what I learn, I can stay sober. It’s free. Drs are sometimes needed in the beginning of getting sober, but after that they get angry if theyre not needed because AA works for the entirely honest and willing.

      1. AA was designed by alcoholics, drs, and clergymen. It is God, science, and cognitive behavioral based. Those who have to put so much effort and anger into putting something down that works for many are drenched in fear that they cover in false pride. That is a behavior that needs some good twelve step action doc evil.

  3. For you to say you’ve been to many meetings and never heard a Christian prayer proves you are a liar. Every AA mtg I have attended from Florida to California to New York closes with The Lord’s Prayer.
    Also cults have a central figure who creates and sets policy and requires people worship at their altar. Bill Wilson did not create AA anymore than the apostles created the new testament. He was very imperfect and humble. He knew he was always close to his next drink if he abandon the Spiritual principles of the program. To quote the Big Book of AA ” any life run on self will can hardly be called a success”. But it was not his will he suggested anyone follow. It was the will of God.
    Nobody will even get to the 2nd Step which suggests “coming to believe in a power greater than ourselves will restore us to sanity” if they don’t surrender first. That is admit powerlessness over alcohol and admit their life is unmanageable. This is a program of ego deflation. The goal may be continued sobriety initially, but the reward is a Spiritual Experience the likes of which most have ever experienced.

      1. You guys are dicks. AA uses The Lords Prayer. NA uses the Serenity Prayer. You apparently don’t have a prayer in this world. Let me know how that works for you.

      2. The Lords Prayer is said at the end of any AA meeting I’ve ever attended. I drank the kool ade for a few years and then realized it most assuredly is a cult. I no longer drink because I CHOOSE not to drink. I’ve been sober 20 years AFTER leaving the AA cult.

  4. The only reason Dr. Drew is against 12 Step Programs like AA is because they undermine his authority and take money out of his already fat pockets. AA is free and gives YOU control over your actions. Dr. Drew is expensive and gives HIMSELF control. That’s it, people. He says it himself: He’s making bank.

    Even if AA didn’t work for you or your local chapter isn’t ideal, that does not make it all a cult or ineffective. I could easily say that Tylenol is fake because it didn’t get rid of my headache pain…BUT I have come up with this miracle drug that WILL cure your headaches…for a small fee, of course.

    Pffffft. How is this quack even still practicing?

    1. Ess Dee
      So called “dr drew” is a fool…no wonder i hate his show…as an AA im proof it works despite his money grubbing ways..as a man of science he should grasp other means of recovery besides his narrow mind

  5. I am a struggling alcoholic. I have hep c and end stage cirrhosis. I hate aa. They turn into little clicks and are back stabbing and judgmental. I have to go to get a transplant but I hate every second of being there.

    1. AA taught you that you were powerless to alcohol, so you thought you had no choice but to keep drinking. How did you get caught up in that mess in the first place?

      You are not an alcoholic. If you think you can’t stop drinking then contact me and we’ll figure it out.

  6. I went to aa and its a joke….i stayed sober for 2 years and i never set foot in a aa meetting….the things they read from the bible are true…but the rest of it is a joke….if you need real help better to. Go to ur local church……my first time i went to a aa metting…i felt like it was a cult…so the doctors right

    1. So it wasn’t for you. Okay. Glad you are sober and doing well.
      Why do you have to be insulting toward something just because it didn’t work for you?

    2. And secondly, don’t know what meeting you went to, but I have never seen anything read out of the bible at any meeting. According to the Tenth Tradition, the program has no opinion on sectarian religion. Therefore, while most members are Christian, there aren’t any bible readings.

      1. I’ve been sober for right @ 30 years! I don’t go to as anymore! But before I get to my experience of aa. Let me say this facts or facts! U can say anything u want! This is a fact since aa was founded n the 30s and the first printing of the big red book n 1939 millions of alcoholics or hard drinkers or how every u quote it who came for help to stop destroying their homes and lives and health! As a result of these men and woman going to meetings I don’t like saying the cliche of working the 12 steps! But incorporating them into your daily lives
        When one does this the 12 steps become like a vehicle we travel through life with and for whatever reason before we got here we was always running and everything and everybody was devastating to us and was devastating to us and others ! Is aa perfect hell no let me rephrase that: The Book of Alcoholics Anonymous which they confirm the King James Version of the Bible and it was broken down for complicated mixed up people i is perfect becaus because it really works”. But people that come into a da a fellowship with the Fellowship is not the program the big book is and you can take that with you wherever you go understand what he’s talking about the fellowship destroyed and the message has been worn down and if you dont have a message you can’t be healed and you can’t help other people there so many people at a fellowship this just alike parents they repeat what was said so they can sound good and reminds me of a parish jail who can tell the best lie crack cocain pills overeaters codependence and the list goes on and the list goes on
        The message in alcoholics Anonymous fellowship has lost and watered down and the message has lost its tread and if you don’t have a message then you can actually kill people by your opinions what I found the fellowship to be like well I live in they should change the name to gossip anonymous is the kind of the straw that is the end of the straw that broke the camel’s back me and my wife broke up and eventually divorced and she got involved with another guy from the fellowship and that was there right and I didn’t hold any judgment against him because what we have was over but deep down inside I still care for so I went to meetings what my ex wife and her new boy that is spreading disease not that is spreading disease not recovery and tha going t going to meetings end of watch the fellowshi end of watch the fellowship deteriorate and go out in left field for years when I got sober which was in Jersey you were there for one reason and one reason only carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous and as the Big Book for share experience strength and hope and with that message hopefully someone will hear and they’ll pick up from their deathbed internet lives around and I’ve seen it happen over and over and over do all make it of course not does and that is a fa and that is a fact jack so to keep from getting resentment worrie anxiety that’s not wha that’s not what I want to meet in 4 but that’s what I heard and that is real sick people don’t realize that words can actually kill people and make them do things that they don’t want to don’t judg the program and th the program in the big book whats up fellas ship if you want a holiday just called alcoholics anon

  7. One sided conversation??? What drugs are you on? And is this the same reehab that Princess Diana’s chauffeur went to…the one that relapsed and killed her? Same one that Charle Sheen, Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan and countless other celebs go to YET can’t stay sober? Ask the Sober celebs who go to AA if They are still sober….I know many…

    1. I would have to maintain it is one sided if the clown running this site is asking self-serving questions that only reinforce his delusions, and it is not a real interview or conversation. So, yes…one-sided.
      Look at almost all the other “conversations” and “interviews” here. Just yakking at himself. I am sure he would like to “interview” some of the people he targets, but they wouldn’t waste their time…good for them.
      The “Long Island Serial Killer” was a title he hung on some irrational putz who was ranting something about “not disrespecting women.” No connection to actual killers there.
      I am not on any drugs…or alcohol…you?
      If nobody here criticizing any of these programs can show statistics proving their relapse rate is higher than the general population there is not much of a point in trying to have a conversation on the merits. The chump running this site makes big claims, between outright lying and fabricating sessions, but he is a very short on empirical proof. Rule of argumentation: He who asserts must prove.
      Moronic flights of fancy do not constitute proof…

      1. Have to agree with you. I commented on his addiction myth on AA too…guess my krazy self had to put in my 2cents…he is prob one of those who needs attention no matter what kind it is….as for alcohol/drugs. I am clean/sober and most grateful for the 12 step program..the other “life” almost killed mr.

    2. Although I don’t believe that once an addict you are always one. AA is pretty much guidance not all true for all things for everybody. You pick what you need and throw away the rest. Those steps should be for all you people out there but more tailored to indiduals needs. Lol Tell me church is not a cult. Tell me the bible is all real. Its not. Read your bibles people word for word. The old testament wow is so wrong. If you believe in bible stories then look how sick God is. All the killings God did to his people and followers. All the times he sold you people of Israel which were you Christians. Wow so go pick on that now. I am Spiritual not an addict but these steps 3 through 12 are good for all people. Not church or some God. Lol what about the Fact of Evolution. We evolved so long ago. Not made from Adams rib. Lol like Eve.

      1. Wow, you must be a magical creature! AA saved my life!!! And you don’t believe in God??? Furthermore, Gods people are the Israelites, not Christians! You may want to actually pick up the Bible and read it. Evolution is a theory, not fact.

  8. Very typical of AddictionMoron to be talking to himself. When he is off his meds he does it constantly.
    Seriously, though, this is typical of your fraudulent website. One-sided “conversations,” confabulation, fabrication, misdirection, exaggeration
    and a total lack of any proof beyond “just take my word for it.”
    Do you think you make yourself credible using these techniques?

    1. I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. I had idea AA was a cult too but that was because I did not know what AA was. Not til I tried everything did I have to listen to what others had to say.!Calling something a cult comes from fear and refusing to learn. AA members do not engage in any advertising or promotions. BTW, this guys stupidity does not bother us. We are focused on supporting those who want to quit drinking. So the more effort put into this insane incrimination should trigger questions from readers: Why is this guy publicly digging a hole for himself.? He’s uninformed and does not want to know the facts. I wonder why? It’s sad. It ses he is a sad close minded person full of anger and fear.

    1. If you are a part of AA, you should be asking yourself that question, how many people have you killed with your stupid ideas?

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