Tantrums, casual sex and useless £12,000 therapy: what REALLY goes on inside rehab

Modern psychiatric and psychological drug rehab for the famous and the unknown is not only expensive, but worthless. As reporte4d in the Daily Mail.

[...]

I finally bottomed out in July 2005 when I had a panic attack. I'd been drinking for three days, virtually nonstop, having gone to a wild party at someone's house and slept on the floor for two nights.

My hands were shaking and I started hyperventilating and had to go to hospital where I was given Valium. It was an utterly terrifying experience and it signalled a turning point.

My body was clearly telling me it couldn't cope any more and I decided to tell my parents my secret - that I had a drink problem.

[...]

I had a high-flying career, good friends, and even a Prada handbag! I looked healthy and ate a reasonable diet. But I knew I needed help and I asked my father if he'd pay for me to go to rehab.

He generously agreed to do so at a huge cost of £12,000 for six weeks' treatment. I confessed all to my boss who was very kind, telling me to take a chunk of unpaid leave and simply concentrate on getting well. [...] My father was effectively paying £2,000 a week for me to sit around doing nothing.

[...]

In the evening we'd have "group workshops", which involved making notes about various aspects of our addictions and asking fellow patients to evaluate our work.

Most of the time we simply went through the motions quickly and then went back to playing Blackjack with Monopoly money and listening to our iPods.

The work assignments occasionally handed out were far too simple. For example, we were asked to write about our worst drinking experiences - but we'd already covered this in group therapy.

When we actually had lectures they were over simplistic, and patronising to anyone with half a brain.

We were asked to perform mimes showing each other how we could enjoy ourselves without resorting to drink and drugs on a given day. I mimed country-dancing.

[...]

After all this, and wasting 12,000 of her father's money, she eventually made some progress when she joined AA. Many more details at the original link.