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February 11, 2008
Examining Rehab with Dr. Drew (Episode 5)

celebrity_rehab_5_8.jpg

Dr. Drew's weekly commentary on Celebrity Rehab continues! After the jump, the hardest-working doctor in showbiz talks Daniel Baldwin's departure, Mary Carey's porn tendencies, Chyna's denial of steroid usage and the vodka Jeff Conway's girlfriend Vikki smuggled into the facility.

celebrity_rehab_5_1.jpgAt the beginning of this episode, you note that Daniel's leaving has created an air of relief. Were you surprised at the group's reaction?

Daniel had a certain amount of negativity that he brought. Don't get me wrong: my affection for Daniel is genuine and unyielding. Even with what was happening there, he was struggling with his own issues and he had the same objectivity as anyone else in treatment. He was actually helpful to several people. As time has gone on, his contribution has meant bigger and bigger things, in terms of what he did to help other patients. There was relief that he left, but there was also a big reaction when he left because of the circumstances that were brought out.

celebrity_rehab_5_4.jpgBrigitte was the most affected.

Brigitte had the most immediate, biggest reaction. It actually felt bigger when it really happened than what you see on TV. It really felt immense, that she was deeply affected by it. I'm not quite clear why. I never did figure it out. I tried to stay blinded to a lot of the things that were happening that I didn't witness with my own eyes. I specifically told the producers that I was going run this like any other treatment: if I'm there, I'm there and what the staff tells me is what they tell me. I didn't want them to tell me what they caught on camera. But the staff did tell me about Brigitte's reaction and from what I understand, it was quite, quite big.

celebrity_rehab_5_5.jpgShe seems to think that Daniel abused his status as a father figure.

Yeah. In group, I was defending Daniel, and the group attacked me. Jeff specifically said that it was like I was defending a child molester. I said, "Well, you know, if I were treating a child molester, I would have to see it from their point of view, too." Obviously, this was not that, but I was shocked at their venom. Ultimately, we were able to bring it around with them and get them to see that you guys set this up. You guys painted him as Dad. It's your reaction, not him. You created it and it's your circumstance that's being played out here. You have to own all of your feelings about what this is. And in fact, in my opinion, his leaving was one of the great gifts to the group. It's not just that his negativity went away, but they learned something about how they construct their own realities.

celebrity_rehab_5_2.jpgSharon Mitchell stops by the center this episode and she's referred to as a "recovering porn star." I've never heard that term before.

(Laughs) I've never heard that, really, either. I'm not sure even if that's how she describes herself. She's a former porn star who's now a therapist, who treats porn stars and helps them get out of the industry.

Were you familiar with her work?

Not really. I'd heard about her. Everyone seems to know her and I've heard about her, loosely.

celebrity_rehab_5_3.jpgWhat were your impressions of her?

I really wanted Mary to hook up with her, and I will know that Mary's really ready to get well when she forms a relationship with Sharon that's a real relationship. She, in fact, was very ambivalent about Sharon, and that was a bad sign.

It's interesting that she flips back and forth between Mary Ellen and Mary Carey.

Yeah. How she dressed and how she looked and everything.

That's not a multiple-personality disorder manifesting itself, is it?

It's not as profound as an MPD, but it is an identity issue. She's really having trouble. Her real self is flimsy and empty. We had them do some art therapy and she drew a box. On the outside, it was pink and hearts and hard candy and inside she painted it completely black. She explained, "This is me. This is how I feel about myself." It's like whoa, Mary. That's pretty heavy -- you feel empty and black on the inside. And that's a flimsy thing to start with. It's a delicate, delicate thing and she's got a lot of work to do.

Early on, Mary intimated that she had a sexual relationship with Seth before the show aired. Was there a concern about that?

Yes! We warned them sternly that that would not be tolerated. And I didn't know about that stuff when Mary got there loaded and said, "Hey, do you want to have sex?" Thank god Seth was so desperate for treatment that he knew that if he did anything he'd get kicked out.

celebrity_rehab_5_7.jpgLater in the episode, Daniel calls and Ricco tells him what went down. Was Ricco acting as a middleman detrimental?

It was heavy. It was a powder keg at that point. We had no idea where it was going to go. And you see Mary reacting to that. She got pissed!

Rightfully so, right?

That was a tough moment. And it's still playing out. I've asked Daniel to set the record straight because I'm sure he has his own version of what went down.

Should Daniel have been calling in the first place, as someone who left the group?

We allow that. I have no right to restrict that contact. If they want to contact people on the outside, I have to give them the opportunity to contact whoever, even if it's their dealers and stuff. I just have to make sure the dealers don't come in.

celebrity_rehab_5_9.jpgBob points out that something particular to this group is how eager everyone is to defend each other.

Yeah. They come to each others' rescue. That's not that unusual. It's not wanting to see somebody else in pain, so you rush in and answer for them. I do that a lot, too. Watching myself on camera, I realized that I do that. I wasn't even aware of it usually. It's hard not to jump in when someone's experiencing something painful.

There's a discussion between you and Chyna in which she denies steroid usage. Did you buy that? Do you just have to take someone's word for it when they deny something like that in treatment?

We have a word in treatment we use all the time: whatever. Addicts lie off the scale all the time. We just move on. We learn to trust our own instincts more than what the patient said.

celebrity_rehab_5_10.jpgAt this point, it seems like Chyna still doesn't know why she's there.

Well, she starts to come around. You'll see that this is the beginning of Chyna's involvement in treatment. The ice is thawing.

The other major event of the episode is that Vikki brings in vodka. That's awful.

You'd be amazed. The very people that bring family members in for treatment often bring them drugs. And it's that same impulse that I was talking about that you see in group: they can't stand to see their loved ones uncomfortable. The patients have them so indoctrinated, almost hypnotized that they're able to manipulate them in ways to get them to do what they want. And to be really clear: I don't see that as a good person and a bad person. I see that as two people struggling with a bad disease.

celebrity_rehab_5_11.jpgYou think she had Jeff's best interests in mind?

Uh, I think she needs treatment, too.

Isn't the fact that she brought alcohol on the premises enough to have her banned entirely?

Yeah, I could have done that. But as a viewer, you know exactly what went down. I didn't. Again, the producers were given instructions not to fill me in. Based on what the staff said, I had to make my decisions and I decided to let it ride. She needed a lot of work. If she'd only been a problem and was not interested in working with me, she would have been out. celebrity_rehab_5_12.jpgBut if I kicked her out and then knowingly sent Jeff back to that environment and was doing nothing with her, it would have been irresponsible. I had to do what I could to engage her in the process.

Just to be totally clear, you asked producers not to fill you in on what happened on camera that you missed in order to keep it real, right?

Yeah. The cameras were affecting everything, and I just wanted to do treatment the best I could.

Related content
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew show page


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Comments
Jen Brunson

I think Vikki has to go. She does not have Jeff's best interest at heart. I am going through out-pateint rehab myself at this very moment and have had to cut people in my life including my husband. It is a very hard deed to do but it has to be done. Good luck to Jeff in kicking that idiot out of his life.

Dawn Labette

Vikki loves Jeff. She needs help too! She should have a room down the hall.

michele

Why was the program only 2 weeks long? I went through rehab in 1986 and it was 28 days inpatient treatment with one day "leave" and one overnight "leave" to prepare us for returning to the real world. We also had to write up a pretty detailed discharge plan for follow-up in our home environments. By the time the 28th day came around, we were more ready than your patients seemed to be, and more prepared. . .

And Vikki needs rehab, but NOT at the same place Jeff is at! Just my opinion....

sharon williams

to all the patients @ the re-hab center, a sober-living environment is the best place to start your reality in dealing with life on life terms once you are released from lock-down. please consider this life changing move. you will be grateful as I was in the long run. Remember, one day at a time and the program and the steps work if you work them. stay sober!

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