{"id":826,"date":"2008-01-07T15:28:02","date_gmt":"2008-01-07T15:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2008\/01\/britney-spears-there-but-for-t.html"},"modified":"2008-01-07T15:28:02","modified_gmt":"2008-01-07T15:28:02","slug":"britney-spears-there-but-for-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2008\/01\/britney-spears-there-but-for-t.html","title":{"rendered":"Britney Spears: There But for the Grace of God Go I"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"080108_lede_britney.jpg\"
\nAs I read about Britney\u2019s hospitalization last week<\/a>, her increasingly erratic and bizarre behavior, and her deteriorating mental and physical health, I react with the simultaneous disgust and sympathy that most people (who have a heart) do: \u201cGet some sense, woman!\u201d and \u201cGod, I feel for you, woman.\u201d
\nBecause, even as I\u2019m disheartened by her decisions, I realize, on some level, that she is sick. So very sick. As reader Cathy eloquently said in response to my earlier Britney post<\/a>: \u201cShe has no sense of herself in the world anymore.\u201d
\nWhen I was a sophomore in college, my therapist suggested I read Colette Dowling\u2019s book \u201cYou Mean I Don\u2019t Have to Feel That Way?\u201d<\/a> It forever changed the way I viewed mental illness, alcoholism, and the relationship between the two.
\nEarly in chapter seven, \u201cWhen Sobriety Isn\u2019t Enough,\u201d she quotes Daniel Goleman, who back in 1990 was a science writer at The New York Times:<\/p>\n

For several years, scientists have suspected that at least some drug addicts suffer imbalanced in brain chemistry that made them vulnerable to depression, anxiety or intense restlessness. For such people, addiction becomes a kind of self-medication in which drugs correct the chemical imbalance and bring a sort of relief.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nDowling goes on to say that scientists believe that identifying an underlying psychiatric disorder and intervening medically will help treat the addiction as well as the disorder. After reading the following paragraph I finally understood why I craved booze from the time I experienced my first buzz, and what that had to do with the biological underpinnings of my depression:<\/p>\n

Scientists think that in predisposed humans the production of endorphins and enkephalins in the brain is abnormally low from birth. Low levels of these mood-regulating chemicals result in anxiety and a feeling of need that is extremely uncomfortable. It is this bad feeling that makes people susceptible to the brief mood-lifts provided by drinking and drug taking. They are not really look for euphoria. What they long for, what their bodies are trying to achieve, is the state of chemical balance that those of us enjoy who are fortunate to have enough neurotransmitters in the first place. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fact that the two\u2014addiction and mental illness\u2014are codependent is no surprise. What\u2019s complicated is how to treat a person with a dual diagnosis because the treatment cultures are so different. According to Dr. Ken Duckworth, M.D, who I interviewed for my Friday series \u201cHow Do You Move Beyond Blue?\u201d<\/a> it sucks to be a family member of a person who is simultaneously suffering from addiction and a mood disorder (he didn\u2019t use those words) because in the substance abuse culture, the person is generally viewed as the agent of the problem and are held accountable for their relapses (“Dude: get it together!!!”) but in the mental illness culture, the person is regarded as the victim of her illness (“Baby doll: come to mama”).
\nThus our divorced, disconnected response: “Get it Together! Come to Mama!”
\nSays Duckworth:<\/p>\n

Now what I have experienced, when the person has both substance abuse and a mental illness, people don\u2019t know how much to do for the person, and how much to have them be accountable, and to have them learn from their mistakes because in this case, when you have both together, the mistakes could easily be lethal.
\nYou can see this dichotomy. And when I work with families dealing with both conditions, my heart really goes out to them because in the AA world, and in the substance abuse culture, they are encouraged to have the person hit bottom and be accountable, but that\u2019s not the case in the mental health world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once you throw in the stigma of mental illness, you get even more confused. I can hear the conversations among all of Britney’s peeps in Hollywood (talent agents, public relations folks): \u201cGod no, not bipolar. Let\u2019s stick with addiction. I agree, addiction is much better. People get addiction.\u201d
\nWhen I stopped drinking in high school, I had no problem telling people I didn\u2019t drink. All I had to say was that the same phenomenon that happened in Michael Jackson\u2019s music video \u201cThriller\u201d would happen to me when I drank large quanties of alcohol: I grew chest hair, my nails curled, and I\u2019d do stupid things like provoke cat fights in bars.
\n\u201cOh \u2026 cool,\u201d was the response. I got a few raised eyebrows, but nothing like when I drop the B word: bipolar.
\n\u201cAck! You BELIEVE in bipolar???! We all know that\u2019s a make-believe diagnosis for people who can\u2019t get beyond their childhood crap, are too sensitive to function in this world, or don\u2019t know how to properly train their thoughts. Really, just swallow some fish-oil capsules, get yourself to yoga, focus on your blessings, and you\u2019ll be fine!!!\u201d
\nWhat\u2019s really fun for me to watch, as a person afflicted by both addiction and bipolar disorder, is when the \u201cexperts\u201d like Dr. Phil weigh in. I\u2019m intrigued by the diagnoses and treatment plans thrown out for the same reason we, as a culture, are obsessed with this stuff: we get to see on national TV the familiar struggles we fight within ourselves and with family members every day.
\nBut, in fairness to Hollywood, just when I can\u2019t stand to read another tabloid story, I\u2019ll stumble onto a gem like Craig Ferguson\u2019s poignant monologue on the topic<\/a>, which I\u2019ll sum up with the words: \u201cThere but by the grace of God, go I.\u201d
\nThat, in my opinion, is the best response of all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I read about Britney\u2019s hospitalization last week, her increasingly erratic and bizarre behavior, and her deteriorating mental and physical health, I react with the simultaneous disgust and sympathy that most people (who have a heart) do: \u201cGet some sense, woman!\u201d and \u201cGod, I feel for you, woman.\u201d Because, even as I\u2019m disheartened by her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"\nBritney Spears: There But for the Grace of God Go I - Beyond Blue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2008\/01\/britney-spears-there-but-for-t.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Britney Spears: There But for the Grace of God Go I - 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