Lindsay Lohan and Rehab

[cambraceres]

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Anyone on here want to tell me why smart people do this?

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In general the very bright are not different in matters of ethics from a person within normal parameters of intelligence. You must think abou it like this, the pain of a smart person, and that of a dumb one is the same qualitatively. The absolute bliss of a productive genius is the same in characteristic as that of a blithering idiot.

It is in terms of our emotions that humanity is said to be a community.

Cam

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I never really considered this as an ethical question, and it still doesn't seem one to me now that you've mentioned that angle.

I disagree that people with fewer perceptive powers can perceive exactly what those with greater perceptive powers perceive. This is borne out in real life all the time. That said, ignorance is bliss has a strong basis in truth.

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The old maxim "Ignorance is bliss" indeed has a strong basis in truth. Doestoevsky said, to paraphrase, that a smart person will have a natural tendency toward sadness because, unlike the average working class idiot, they realize just how deep the [censored] they are in is.
However, greater powers of perception and higher levels of intelligence are not the same thing. Intelligence can be seen as a malleable entity, not a static system like a car engine where the oil pressure will be such and such a value, and the gear ratio will be at some other value. IQ is one of the terms used by psychometricists to quantify their science; it is not a purely objective thing as say your abilities of hearing are.

The decision to do or not to do some drug seems to me to be an ethical situation. I see every situation where there is an oppurtunity to use one's power of decision as an ethical situation. How on earth could you say this isn;t one? I have an extremely addictive personality, and thankfully was scared away from hard drugs by the death of my father from drugs, this and watching my mother act like she was out of her mind told me clearly that it was not for me.

That said, I just fill in one thing for another. I simply try to be engaged in things that are not by their own nature destructive. I have actually been obsessed with religion as a child. Th addiction to study and prayer was destructive, but less so than the lure of illicit drugs. Now I am buffeted from one thing to another, and trying to make some sort of decent time of it.

I have to go back to work now

[katyseagull]

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However, greater powers of perception and higher levels of intelligence are not the same thing. Intelligence can be seen as a malleable entity, not a static system like a car engine where the oil pressure will be such and such a value, and the gear ratio will be at some other value. IQ is one of the terms used by psychometricists to quantify their science; it is not a purely objective thing as say your abilities of hearing are.

The decision to do or not to do some drug seems to me to be an ethical situation. I see every situation where there is an oppurtunity to use one's power of decision as an ethical situation. How on earth could you say this isn;t one? I have an extremely addictive personality, and thankfully was scared away from hard drugs by the death of my father from drugs, this and watching my mother act like she was out of her mind told me clearly that it was not for me.



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Very interesting post. I appreciate hearing your take on this question. Like I said, I know several highly intelligent people who enjoy pill popping and mixing pills with alcohol. I have never understood why they would do such a risky thing. It doesn't take much education at all to understand the danger of overusing prescription drugs and yet many people do it. Many extremely smart people. I'm with Blarg though, I'm not sure I associate ethics with this behavior.


I'm not a pill popper. I have a huge distrust of pills. I'm freaked out by the continuing practice of doctors to over prescribe medicine to patients. I'm also weirded out by my friends, both in real life and also on the internet, who pop pills like they were candy, who get excited about getting their hands on someone else's pain pills like oxycontin (or, alternatively, Ambien or muscle relaxers or whatever the case may be).

I would bet there are quite a few bright 2+2 posters who are pill poppers. In my experience it is more often bright men who do this. Now why is that? As for girls, I guess I always thought only dumb girls did this but then again isn't Lindsay Lohan supposed to be bright? And Winona Ryder is supposed to be bright too. Hmm. What does it all mean? I think my sample size is too small.

You associate the practice with lack of ethics and has nothing at all to do with IQ. Interesting. My point was that if you are so smart, theoretically wouldn't you realize the consequences of mixing drugs with alcohol?

Maybe bright pill popping guys are tortured souls, self medicating to calm their over active minds or maybe they are bored addicts who need some kind of buzz in their life to make them feel more alive. Not sure. I would hope that a genius would be worried about destroying his body.

[Thug Bubbles]

I've always thought that if a close friend or family member was going through such issues, and if i had the money, I would simply take them to a remote location for three or four months. A location that was naturally beautiful, and have them stay within a comfortable two bedroom house.

All these rehab places are a joke because they're merely resorts with limp-wristed counseling (from an outsiders opinion, i guess i should say). I understand there are health ramifications with a cold turkey method, but I think most cases would do just fine.

Think "Trainspotting". Keep them in a basic room, with books they like and a full bathroom. Constantly watch them for a week or so, then open the rest of the house to them with even more amenities (better meals, more entertainment, and more room to lounge), after another week bring them outside to enjoy nature (hiking, swimming, fishing, etc.)

Ultimately, her parents are pretty ridiculous (i hear they have serious problems in their own right) and deserve as much vitriol as Lindsay is getting.

[BigRedDog33]

Going cold Turkey can be dangerous from a health view. Cocain withdrawl can send you body into shock which is why they use meds to keep your BP stable. As far taking someone away, that will flush out their system but will not help them stay clean. Useually there are underlying reasons someone ends up a junkie and a drunck. Until someone looks at why they use or drink they will tend to fkeep going back to it.
I had a real nasty coke/booze/everything and anything habit and ended up in rehab for 28 days (standard duration). After detoxing and clearing my mind out I was able to deal with somethings in my life I needed to deal with and really look at what I had become. Most of us do not get a chance to drop out of life for 28 days and really look at where we are, rehab gave me the chance to do this and 9 years later still clean and sober. Now if i could just get rid of the habit of donking off chips I would be all set.

[Blarg]

Not to make more of your little joke than necessary, but I agree that drugs/booze are usually done to address a problem, and until that problem is figured out and people can live with it, they'll keep trying to escape it with drugs/booze/gambling, whatever. Some people just go from one addiction to another, the underlying problem being a need to get through the day by resorting to something whose byproducts are addiction rather than any specific drug or habit itself.

[BigRedDog33]

This is only for myself as far as drug/gambling i have never found the two to relate. I play BJ, craps and other table games on rare occassions but the juice people get from it has never been there for me. I enjoy poker becasue of the thought, skill and strategy involved. With drugs i was into the stuff that got you revved up so you would think the two would coincide, but not for me. The chip thing was a throw away joke, althoguh prooable a bad place to use it inregards to the context of the post.

[Blarg]

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This is only for myself as far as drug/gambling i have never found the two to relate. I play BJ, craps and other table games on rare occassions but the juice people get from it has never been there for me. I enjoy poker becasue of the thought, skill and strategy involved. With drugs i was into the stuff that got you revved up so you would think the two would coincide, but not for me. The chip thing was a throw away joke, althoguh prooable a bad place to use it inregards to the context of the post.

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Look at some of the writing about gambling, and it's an addictive behavior that fulfills the same kind of needs other addictive behavior fills.

[Enrique]

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I've always thought that if a close friend or family member was going through such issues, and if i had the money, I would simply take them to a remote location for three or four months. A location that was naturally beautiful, and have them stay within a comfortable two bedroom house.

All these rehab places are a joke because they're merely resorts with limp-wristed counseling (from an outsiders opinion, i guess i should say). I understand there are health ramifications with a cold turkey method, but I think most cases would do just fine.

Think "Trainspotting". Keep them in a basic room, with books they like and a full bathroom. Constantly watch them for a week or so, then open the rest of the house to them with even more amenities (better meals, more entertainment, and more room to lounge), after another week bring them outside to enjoy nature (hiking, swimming, fishing, etc.)

Ultimately, her parents are pretty ridiculous (i hear they have serious problems in their own right) and deserve as much vitriol as Lindsay is getting.

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It seems that sometimes turning your back on a friend can be more helpful for recovery. If you're always there for them, they know that you will get them out of any problem, hence they don't care about rehab, but if you turn your back, they feel bad about losing a great friend and try harder at rehab. At least that's what happened with Jason Mewes (Kevin Smith's friend) according to Kevin Smith's blog. Of course this sort of thing probably depends on the people (like for some this technique wouldn't work).

[katyseagull]

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Ultimately, her parents are pretty ridiculous (i hear they have serious problems in their own right) and deserve as much vitriol as Lindsay is getting.

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Her dad seems like a loose canon. But can we blame the parents for the antics of a 20 yr old? I'm not sure about this.

I always thought the same way as you, that if I had a close family member who was an addict I would take them far away to a beautiful island and just remove them from their situation. But then I read up on rehab and I now see how this approach might fail to address some important points.

From what I read, one of the main components of rehab is sharing your story with other addicts. The more you hear other addicts talk about their problem, the more you see how you resemble that person and hopefully your eyes will be opened.

Some common goals listed for rehab are - identifying your "triggers", learning coping skills, setting your own personal goals and learning how to identify positive healthy people to surround yourself with. These all seem like worthy goals. Now how talented the people are at the rehab clinics is another question.

[Shadowrun]

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Ultimately, her parents are pretty ridiculous (i hear they have serious problems in their own right) and deserve as much vitriol as Lindsay is getting.

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Her dad seems like a loose canon. But can we blame the parents for the antics of a 20 yr old? I'm not sure about this.

I always thought the same way as you, that if I had a close family member who was an addict I would take them far away to a beautiful island and just remove them from their situation. But then I read up on rehab and I now see how this approach might fail to address some important points.

From what I read, one of the main components of rehab is sharing your story with other addicts. The more you hear other addicts talk about their problem, the more you see how you resemble that person and hopefully your eyes will be opened.

Some common goals listed for rehab are - identifying your "triggers", learning coping skills, setting your own personal goals and learning how to identify positive healthy people to surround yourself with. These all seem like worthy goals. Now how talented the people are at the rehab clinics is another question.

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Her mom is also pretty crazy, you dont have a normal mother/daughter social dynamic when the mother is living off the daughter. Also add the fact that the daughter is living the mothers dream and that the mother introduces herself as Lindsay friend often times, and you have a glimpse of the wacky family this is.

The dad is messed up too.