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Interview With Dr. Drew Pinsky

Aired September 08, 2003 - 15:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: If you don't know Dr. Drew from his radio show, "Loveline," your kids do.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He offers callers frank medical advice about dating, drugs and sex. He's now written a book about his experiences working with addicts at an L.A. rehab hospital. It's called "Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again."

And Dr. Drew is joining us live now from L.A.

Good to see you again, sir.

DR. DREW PINSKY, "LOVELINE" Thank you. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks for showing the book.

O'BRIEN: Oh, always a pleasure.

PINKSY: A book that I spent part of my life investing in and I want to people to read.

PHILLIPS: So why -- why did you write it?

PINKSY: You know, it's a point of view that really has not been offered, which is the point of view of the caretaker and what people -- how you experience the people who are suffering with this disease. And for me, addiction has become sort of a metaphor for what's wrong with our culture.

Most of my addicts that require inpatient hospitalization are people that were traumatized growing up as kids. They reach young adulthood or adolescence and they need solutions. They don't feel good. They can't regulate their feeling states. And the kind of solutions that our culture offers them becomes the problems, just as it says in the chryon there. The solutions they're given are sex and drugs, and that in these people, triggers disease.

O'BRIEN: Chryon. That's pretty good. We can get you a job in the control room if you like, Dr. Drew.

Anyway....

PINKSY: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: But we digress. Let's -- what's interesting, and the book starts out, from your perspective -- as you say, from a caregiver's perspective -- getting in the middle of these very emotional scenes where there's addiction, and then couple that with family relationships and enablers and so forth. It gets very complicated, doesn't it?

PINSKY: It gets very complicated and it's a story the people -- 30 percent of our families suffer with this disorder and a lot of people don't really understand what it is they're suffering from with, the ability to sort of set boundaries, the ability to understand what it is they need to do so they aren't participating in the disease, find things they can do to help them contribute to the health and the recovery of the individual. It's a very complicated matter.

And I really chose a format in this book, rather than sort of a self-help format, chronicling my experiences so people can see through those experiences the opportunity to learn about this disease. It's sort of the way I've looked to the media in general is people don't learn by reading lists. They learn by studying other people's experiences. That's how we learn in medical school. And that's what I wanted an opportunity to do in this book.

O'BRIEN: All right. We got a couple e-mails. Let's put one up from Richard in the Los Angeles. We thought we'd keep it in your neck of the woods out there.

"Is addiction hereditary?"

There is a genetic link, isn't there, Dr. Drew?

PINSKY: Absolutely. I mean, I feel strongly that if you don't have the gene, you don't get the disease. But there's absolute universal agreement that there is at least a genetic contribution, that there's clearly a predisposition and then there's some sort of environmental trigger for most people. And in my patients, again, that trigger is trauma.

PHILLIPS: All right. Here's another e-mail coming in. Bring it up on the screen. This one from Tom.

"As an alcoholic who goes in and out of recovery, do you have any suggestions as to how one can stay clean and sober? If there is any new drug out there that helps reduce the craving of alcohol?"

O'BRIEN: Ah, that's kind of what you're talking about here.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's sort of ironic.

PINSKY: It is, but Tom is manifesting the universal fantasy of all alcoholics, is that there's going to be a pill to cure them. And an alcoholic who's in and out of recovery simply is probably not prioritizing the recovery in their life or not taking an adequate dose of treatment or is somehow retaining some willfulness of their own to determine how much they're going to involve themself in recovery.

You know, I almost called this book "Getting It" because it's very hard to know when somebody finally gets and capitulates the power of treatment. Clearly, Tom needs to completely capitulate, prioritize recovery. Once gets a couple years on to his belt, this thing will be more self-sustaining.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Drew, final one here. It's a little long but we'll get through it quickly.

"How would you suggest a 43-year-old adult, actively dealing with an aging mom who's an alcoholic and a father who is a key enabler? My mom is drinking to numb the aging process, my dad is struggling with what he can do to help. In fact, his attempts to help are to ignore the problem and deal with the brutal reality of his real life challenge. This is hard for me to see my parents struggle after being such good role models for me and my brother."

There's a complicated soup to get in the middle of, yes?

PINSKY: It's a very complicated situation and you're dealing with an age group for whom the culture of therapy and treatment is something they sort of resist. So in people -- 70-year-olds and older, I typically look for structure. I don't really try to go for a sustained recovery. I just try to find ways to bring in structure for this woman, keep the alcohol away, keep adequate supervision, give your dad more social support. So really a sort of palliative measures in situations like that. Don't expect there to be the kind of miraculous recoveries that we see in 30, 40 and 50-year-olds. And sometimes if you can just get them sort of more engaged in their life, more engaged in their social spheres -- and again, given adequate structure, a lot of the misery will settle down.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Drew, thanks very much. We appreciate it. Appreciate your insights as always. The book is "Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again." Humpty Dumpty on the cover there.

Was Humpty Dumpty an addict, as far as you know? I don't think so.

PINSKY: No, I don't -- he might have been a little -- he might have been a little bit tipsy. But once he became cracked -- the idea of the cover is that you can put people back together again but they are forever cracked.

O'BRIEN: All right. I guess that's no yoke. All right.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry about that. All right. We got to go. Take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 8, 2003 - 15:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: If you don't know Dr. Drew from his radio show, "Loveline," your kids do.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He offers callers frank medical advice about dating, drugs and sex. He's now written a book about his experiences working with addicts at an L.A. rehab hospital. It's called "Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again."

And Dr. Drew is joining us live now from L.A.

Good to see you again, sir.

DR. DREW PINSKY, "LOVELINE" Thank you. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks for showing the book.

O'BRIEN: Oh, always a pleasure.

PINKSY: A book that I spent part of my life investing in and I want to people to read.

PHILLIPS: So why -- why did you write it?

PINKSY: You know, it's a point of view that really has not been offered, which is the point of view of the caretaker and what people -- how you experience the people who are suffering with this disease. And for me, addiction has become sort of a metaphor for what's wrong with our culture.

Most of my addicts that require inpatient hospitalization are people that were traumatized growing up as kids. They reach young adulthood or adolescence and they need solutions. They don't feel good. They can't regulate their feeling states. And the kind of solutions that our culture offers them becomes the problems, just as it says in the chryon there. The solutions they're given are sex and drugs, and that in these people, triggers disease.

O'BRIEN: Chryon. That's pretty good. We can get you a job in the control room if you like, Dr. Drew.

Anyway....

PINKSY: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: But we digress. Let's -- what's interesting, and the book starts out, from your perspective -- as you say, from a caregiver's perspective -- getting in the middle of these very emotional scenes where there's addiction, and then couple that with family relationships and enablers and so forth. It gets very complicated, doesn't it?

PINSKY: It gets very complicated and it's a story the people -- 30 percent of our families suffer with this disorder and a lot of people don't really understand what it is they're suffering from with, the ability to sort of set boundaries, the ability to understand what it is they need to do so they aren't participating in the disease, find things they can do to help them contribute to the health and the recovery of the individual. It's a very complicated matter.

And I really chose a format in this book, rather than sort of a self-help format, chronicling my experiences so people can see through those experiences the opportunity to learn about this disease. It's sort of the way I've looked to the media in general is people don't learn by reading lists. They learn by studying other people's experiences. That's how we learn in medical school. And that's what I wanted an opportunity to do in this book.

O'BRIEN: All right. We got a couple e-mails. Let's put one up from Richard in the Los Angeles. We thought we'd keep it in your neck of the woods out there.

"Is addiction hereditary?"

There is a genetic link, isn't there, Dr. Drew?

PINSKY: Absolutely. I mean, I feel strongly that if you don't have the gene, you don't get the disease. But there's absolute universal agreement that there is at least a genetic contribution, that there's clearly a predisposition and then there's some sort of environmental trigger for most people. And in my patients, again, that trigger is trauma.

PHILLIPS: All right. Here's another e-mail coming in. Bring it up on the screen. This one from Tom.

"As an alcoholic who goes in and out of recovery, do you have any suggestions as to how one can stay clean and sober? If there is any new drug out there that helps reduce the craving of alcohol?"

O'BRIEN: Ah, that's kind of what you're talking about here.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's sort of ironic.

PINSKY: It is, but Tom is manifesting the universal fantasy of all alcoholics, is that there's going to be a pill to cure them. And an alcoholic who's in and out of recovery simply is probably not prioritizing the recovery in their life or not taking an adequate dose of treatment or is somehow retaining some willfulness of their own to determine how much they're going to involve themself in recovery.

You know, I almost called this book "Getting It" because it's very hard to know when somebody finally gets and capitulates the power of treatment. Clearly, Tom needs to completely capitulate, prioritize recovery. Once gets a couple years on to his belt, this thing will be more self-sustaining.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Drew, final one here. It's a little long but we'll get through it quickly.

"How would you suggest a 43-year-old adult, actively dealing with an aging mom who's an alcoholic and a father who is a key enabler? My mom is drinking to numb the aging process, my dad is struggling with what he can do to help. In fact, his attempts to help are to ignore the problem and deal with the brutal reality of his real life challenge. This is hard for me to see my parents struggle after being such good role models for me and my brother."

There's a complicated soup to get in the middle of, yes?

PINSKY: It's a very complicated situation and you're dealing with an age group for whom the culture of therapy and treatment is something they sort of resist. So in people -- 70-year-olds and older, I typically look for structure. I don't really try to go for a sustained recovery. I just try to find ways to bring in structure for this woman, keep the alcohol away, keep adequate supervision, give your dad more social support. So really a sort of palliative measures in situations like that. Don't expect there to be the kind of miraculous recoveries that we see in 30, 40 and 50-year-olds. And sometimes if you can just get them sort of more engaged in their life, more engaged in their social spheres -- and again, given adequate structure, a lot of the misery will settle down.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Drew, thanks very much. We appreciate it. Appreciate your insights as always. The book is "Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again." Humpty Dumpty on the cover there.

Was Humpty Dumpty an addict, as far as you know? I don't think so.

PINSKY: No, I don't -- he might have been a little -- he might have been a little bit tipsy. But once he became cracked -- the idea of the cover is that you can put people back together again but they are forever cracked.

O'BRIEN: All right. I guess that's no yoke. All right.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry about that. All right. We got to go. Take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com