bdk3clash
03-15-2005, 01:42 PM
What a powerful and disturbing show. It's a documentary series that focuses on two addicts each episode. The first part of the show is just following the addict around and observing their behavior, and then they spring a professionally-supervised intervention on them.
The first episode featured a formerly successful mortgage broker turned secretly-homeless coke addict and a 27-year old girl still living at home and heavily addicted to opiates and crack. There were some pretty powerful scenes, including the opiate addict stealing medication from her dying father. During the intervention, despite having been specifically warned not to mention any reasons for his daughter to refuse going into treatment, the father asked how long rehab would take. It was amazing to see him sabotage the process so blatantly.
The second episode featured a gambling addict and an actress addicted to shopping. The latter seems like something people would make fun of and not take seriously, but she had tons of problems including depression, anxiety, OCD, panic attacks, and agoraphobia, and it was pretty clear her shopping was indeed an addiction.
The gambling addict was obviously (to me, anyway) incredibly depressed and spiraling downward. He agreed to treatment but the epilogue mentioned that against his doctors' advice he left after three weeks and went to live with friends. I'd have to guess things are going to get much worse for him before he gets better, if he ever does.
Since I've never really dealt with substance abuse issues personally but do gamble a lot, the gambling segment was pretty intense, though all of the people featured are fascinating. The show is well-done and worth checking out.
The first episode featured a formerly successful mortgage broker turned secretly-homeless coke addict and a 27-year old girl still living at home and heavily addicted to opiates and crack. There were some pretty powerful scenes, including the opiate addict stealing medication from her dying father. During the intervention, despite having been specifically warned not to mention any reasons for his daughter to refuse going into treatment, the father asked how long rehab would take. It was amazing to see him sabotage the process so blatantly.
The second episode featured a gambling addict and an actress addicted to shopping. The latter seems like something people would make fun of and not take seriously, but she had tons of problems including depression, anxiety, OCD, panic attacks, and agoraphobia, and it was pretty clear her shopping was indeed an addiction.
The gambling addict was obviously (to me, anyway) incredibly depressed and spiraling downward. He agreed to treatment but the epilogue mentioned that against his doctors' advice he left after three weeks and went to live with friends. I'd have to guess things are going to get much worse for him before he gets better, if he ever does.
Since I've never really dealt with substance abuse issues personally but do gamble a lot, the gambling segment was pretty intense, though all of the people featured are fascinating. The show is well-done and worth checking out.