Los Angeles, U.S.A — VH1 and Dr. Drew are back together for a sixth installment of “Rehab with Dr. Drew,” premiering Sunday, September 16 at 8 PM.  Featuring individuals straight out of the VH1 adultster demographic, Dr. Drew faces eight of his most challenging patients to date all with hardcore addictions ranging from heroin to prescription pills to alcohol.

According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an estimated 23.1 million Americans who were 12 or older needed treatment for drug and alcohol abuse that year, while only 2.6 million received treatment in a specialty facility. Another source, the 2009 Treatment Episode Data Set, which gathers information on persons admitted to publicly funded treatment programs, shows the age group with the highest admissions was 25 to 29 years of age at 15.2 percent followed closely by the 20 to 24 year age group at 14.9 percent.

In the sixth installment of the ‘Rehab’ franchise Dr. Drew once again takes viewers behind the closed doors of the rehabilitation process.  From heartbreak to hope, we follow Dr. Drew and his patients on their difficult and deeply emotional journey to sobriety. A raw and unflinching look at the many faces of addiction, Dr. Drew shows us that rehab is not a glamorous spa vacation as often portrayed in the media, but a profound life changing process that offers hope for a better life.

“Addiction is a disease that doesn’t limit itself to celebrities but reaches across all economic, social and racial boundaries with lasting and profound effects of not only of the patients but also their families, friends and co-workers. Rehabilitation and sobriety on the other hand are an arduous lifelong journey,” said Dr. Drew.

Dr. Drew is the host of “Dr. Drew” on HLN and the nationally syndicated late night radio show “Loveline” as well as a respected practicing MD, board certified in internal and addiction medicine, a member of the staff at Huntington Hospital and an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at the KECK USC School of Medicine. He is the author of the New York Times best seller The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America (Harper-Collins) and Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again (Harper-Collins).

Dr. Drew co-authored the first academic study on celebrities and narcissism that was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Elsevier) in September 2006, and is the first systematic, empirical scholarly study of celebrity personality.  Dr. Drew hosted VH1′s “Sober House” and “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew” and can be seen on MTV’s “Teen Mom” and “16 & Pregnant.”

Returning for a sixth season to assist Dr. Drew are counselor Bob Forrest and resident technician Shelly Sprague. Also returning this season is Dr. John R. Sharp, M.D.  Dr. Sharp is a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School, and the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. His expertise is in the integrated treatment of depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder, and addiction.

Dr. Sharp has been recognized as Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and of The Academy of Psychosomatic.  He maintains an active private practice in Boston and Los Angeles. Jennifer Gimenez will also be back as a resident technician. Jennifer was previously seen on season 5 of “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” and “Sober House” as the house manager.

Image Courtesy of   s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

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Like most cities, Belfast has had its fair share of troubling statistics and unfortunate public embarrassments when it comes to substance abuse among young adults. Just last week, major universities in the city had circulated emails to their entire student bodies in the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day, with the Student Union President at Queen’s University Belfast writing:

If you happen to be in the University area over the weekend please remember your responsibilities as a member of the South Belfast Community and be aware that as a student of Queen’s you fall under the auspices of the University’s Conduct Regulations.

This type of advisory email followed several years of well-publicised displays of disorderly conduct among a select group of young adults in student housing areas of the city. Years past have seen excessive and unmoderated drinking lead to physical altercations, verbal abuse, graffiti and property damage, police involvement, and consequently the expulsion of several students from their respective university institutions.

As a result, this year students at Queen’s were given a 4-day weekend over St. Patrick’s Day, in the hope that a longer break would encourage some to travel outside the city or to return home, away from the influence of those who were most likely to cause public disturbances. This measure seems to have been relatively effective, with The Irish Times reporting:

A substantial police presence, together with a zero-tolerance approach to on-street drinking, appeared to keep the situation under control.

On Friday, eight people were arrested in the area for a range of anti-social behaviour. But by 9.30pm yesterday, the streets of the Holyland, although littered with broken glass, were quiet and virtually empty, with just a few house parties going on behind closed doors.

Unfortunately, 2012 has already seen alcohol-related tragedy among the youth community. In February, 20-year old Joby Murphy accidentally fell into the River Lagan due to poor safety measures at the Lagan Weir bridge.

Murphy had attended a Snow Patrol concert that same night, and then drank £1 vodka shots prior to his fall, leading to his father getting involved with a campaign to ban certain drinks promotions around the city, namely ones that offer ‘All You Can Drink’ deals at significantly reduced prices. Such deals are common in Belfast bars and clubs frequented by students, and it is thought that banning them would go some way to discouraging young adults from binge drinking.

However, some have criticised such a proposition for being an ineffective way to teach young adults about the dangers of alcohol. The general mentality is, if someone wants to find alcohol at a cheap price then they will not have to look very far to find some.

Facebook even offers ‘Dial A Drink’ services, where businesses will deliver alcohol straight to your doorstep without ensuring that no minors in the house will be drinking, so it is clear that Belfast, like so many other UK cities, has not yet figured out how to measurably regulate alcohol consumption among younger people.

Murphy’s father is still pushing ahead with hopes of making the Lagan Weir bridge more secure and better equipped to deal with accidental falls, but at the moment he seems to be one active voice facing a larger community deaf to the seriousness of this drinking subculture.

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Heavy drinking is a big issue among adolescents around the world. There are many factors that affect alcohol consumption: cultural, economic, familiar, education and social environment are those most frequently analyzed by experts.

Countries usually have a minimum age limit for selling, purchasing, and consuming alcohol. In most European countries it is 18 years or less, whereas in the United States it is 21. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reports nine countries which have a complete ban on alcohol: Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Sudan.

NIAAA also reveals some interesting relationships between teenagers and alcohol. The world’s highest alcohol consumption levels are found in the developed world, including Eastern Europe, while parts of Africa and Asia show the lowest average consumption. In all countries, teenage males are more likely to drink alcohol than females. Religion is cited as the key reason behind low alcohol consumption and high rates of abstinence in Muslim countries.

College campuses are known to be places that encourage adolescents to drink. They are expected to act responsibly, but in many cases this is a naïve assumption because parents’ education, media and social network exposure, and other influences college may bring are not taken into account. Adolescents are also unaware of the negative effects drinking can have on themselves and those around them.

Education

Parents play a fundamental role and are key to the education of teenagers as responsible drinkers. There are two extremes: youngsters who have too much freedom who start to drink with their friends with no understanding of how their bodies will react to alcohol; and teenagers who were strictly prohibited from drinking alcohol by their parents until they reach legal age, who then drink heavily of what was denied them before.

The ideal scenario would be a parent who can teach his or her children how to drink responsibly when they are around 16 years of age. For instance, parents can allow a small glass of wine or a beer to their son or daughter at dinner time once a week. This way the teenager will realize how his or her body copes with alcohol, so he or she can be wise enough to know when to stop in the future.

But this is not the case. If you observe how adolescents drink on a night out, you will notice their immaturity. They break common sense of safe drinking; first by drinking large quantities very quickly — second, by combining spirits, beer, and wine which results in the worst hangover, and third by forgetting to drink enough water to keep from dehydrating.

College and University Influence

Many students leave their homes and move to others cities to be closer to the college campuses. Without the supervision of their parents, students get a lot of freedom that can get out of hand. They celebrate their weekends with parties at private homes, residence halls, clubs, and pubs.

Scholars drink for many reasons: novelty, fun, peer pressure, experimentation, escapism from stress, and the need to ‘fit in’. Many college students drink to make social interactions more comfortable, so drinking competitions are very popular around the campus. The paradox is that the losers are rewarded with more drinks, making the day after the real punishment.

Media and Social Network Exposure

Alcoholic beverages are advertised on television and radio, in print and on the Internet so the temptation for teenagers to drink is everywhere. Social networks may be the worst culprits. Adolescents use Facebook or Twitter to upload alcohol-related images, providing a socially accepted way of sharing their drinking experiences among themselves.

They derive personal satisfaction by their peers’ comments and even gain respect, measured in pints and hours. Social networks create an indirect niche for alcoholic drinks by promoting logos and links to brands. Therefore, the use of social networks construct social norms around alcohol, for instance by the uploading of alcohol-related pictures and jokes.

Movies depicting college parties or even ‘The Simpsons’ with the characterisation of drinkers like Homer and Barney can incite teenagers to imitate what they see. Celebrity alcohol use is also a key feature of the entertainment media’s access to young people.

Effects on the Drinkers and Society

The harmful use of alcohol increases the risk of death, disease, and injury. Alcohol dependence in drinkers leads to health problems such as cirrhosis of the liver, and cancer. Drunk-driving and domestic violence are other linked behavior of problem drinkers. According to the report Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011, alcohol’s harmful effects result in approximately 2.5 million deaths each year.

The impact of alcohol also causes harm to the well-being and health of others. Diseases and injuries from alcohol have negative social effects and increases medical costs, which are force-fed to governments and families. The drinkers’ habits affect important roles and responsibilities of everyday life: work, family, friendship, and public character.

Binge drinking is associated with major health problems like alcohol poisoning, sexual malfunction, unintended pregnancies, and high blood pressure. When an adolescent gets intoxicated, it interferes with his or her productivity, resulting in missed classes, and absences or lateness at work because they must take time out to recover from their drinker’s mistakes.

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