Quote From: princess1I admire the way Dr Phil makes people take resopnisbility, but there is a major flaw with the whole rehab system. First off, you are treating a person for a few weeks for a problem that it took a lifetime to develop. Next when you get out of rehab, you go back into the exact same situation you came out of. It is easy to work the program when you are in the safe confines of the rehab, but when you are back in the real world everything changes. The worst problem is how so many people keep telling the addicts they have an illness. That is such a load of crap, An illness is not somthing you choose to contract., taking that drink or whatever your drug of preference is is a CHOICE!!!! You don't choose to get cancer, you do choose to pick up that beer and drink it. It is all about personal responsibility. And yes I do know what I am talking about, because every day I wake up I choose not to drink alchohol or take drugs; I also see family members who have made the choices to drink and drug.
First, I missed the show. So I can't say anything about their specific situation.
But I do want to comment about some of your statements, because a lot of people think this way! Rehabs don't "cure" addicts and alcoholics. What rehabs do is help us medically through our detox, educate us on the disease concept, and give us tools to maintain sobriety. The battle isn't over when someone leaves rehab -- the battle has just begun!
You mentioned people who go back to "the same situation". In one sense, this may be true. But a big part of rehab is learning how to avoid situations that are risky, and also what to do when those cravings start to hit. If someone chooses to ignore this, then yes, they have made a bad choice. But it's on them, not the rehab.
Also -- and this is the biggest misconception -- the disease model does NOT give people a free pass to blame their actions on addiction! In fact, a big part of recovery relates to taking full responsibility for all choices that have harmed others, and then making amends.
The reason the disease model is important is because alcoholism isn't caused by drinking too much. And the difference between an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic has nothing to do with how much they consume. It has to do with what happens to them when they consume. For an alcoholic, the body begins adapting to the alcohol from the very first sip.
