Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?170 (Downey, Robert Jr.)

DON'T WRITE OFF THE ADDICT, EXPERTS ADVISE

The fact that actor Robert Downey Jr. can't stay out of trouble should not 
surprise his fans.

Substance-abuse experts are far too familiar with the continuing 
self-destructive spiral of celebrities, such as Downey and baseball star 
Darryl Strawberry, who struggle against addictions.

"Nobody in the field is surprised" when the famous fail yet again, says 
Rosalind Brannigan, vice president of Drug Strategies, a non-profit 
research institute. An addiction to drugs is "a recurring, relapsing 
disease." Stopping is "not unlike trying to diet or quit smoking. You have 
many, many attempts before you are successful."

Downey voluntarily went into rehab again after another arrest Tuesday, 
capping a five-year saga of legal troubles from drug abuse.

Strawberry, who has battled colon cancer, has attended thousands of hours 
of treatment for substance abuse since 1990. His addiction torpedoed a 
superstar career.

Relapses are "disheartening, but not so surprising," says Alan Leshner, 
director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "What is critical is that 
the abuser get back into treatment," which increases the time between relapses.

Deciding that the addict is hopeless and writing him off is a "moral 
judgment that will not work," he says. Drug use actually changes the brain 
itself, he says, and "makes you compulsive about the drug. It is a myth 
that millions quit addictions on their own every year."

Addicts tell themselves they can control their craving, says Craig Nakken, 
author of The Addictive Personality. "Then they betray themselves, their 
family and their friends. Then there is more pain. And the more pain there 
is, the more the need for the chemical."

Leshner says relapses can be triggered by stress; exposure once again to 
the "cues" associated with drug use, such as hanging out with drug-abusing 
friends; and using any amount of the substance again.

Most experts are not enamored of the term "addictive personality" to 
describe the person who stumbles. "There is no such thing in the 
traditional sense as an addictive personality" that in turn causes 
addiction, Nakken says.

"There is no such thing," agrees Sheila Blume, who heads a committee on 
addiction treatment for the American Psychiatric Association. "There are 
addictive people. But when you look at them carefully before they got 
addicted, they don't share a common personality." Many different types of 
people succumb, she says.

Genetics may actually be the biggest cause of addiction, Leshner says. It 
may account for 50% to 70% of a person's vulnerability to becoming addicted 
after trying a given drug.

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