An article in today’s NY Times magazine section discusses the world according to Dr. Drew. Being an addiction specialist myself, I obviously couldn’t resist devouring it, even though I’m in Belgium at the moment.

Dr. Drew the good and bad

The article was a wonderfully written piece that dealt with much of the irony in Dr. Drew‘s fame, which is based on his selling of addiction to the public. Dr. Drew got his start working the Loveline microphone on the radio 20 years ago, so there’s not doubt that he’s put in his time.

For all the flak the man has received , I believe that his work has served Americans in many important ways. By making the patter accessible, Dr. Drew has, to some extent, reduced the enormous stigma associated with addiction. Of course it’d be nice if he could do it without all the excessive drama-centric editing, but such is life, and this is obviously the best he thinks he can deliver. As he points out, one has to work within the confines of what producers will allow, though working with VH1 no doubt restricts his movement greatly.

Addiction as a disease and Dr. Drew’s part

Still, I think that Dr. Drew has prepared America to accept that addiction as a disease. So even though he’s done it by selling his own brand of narcissism, which does little to reduce what seems to be the target of his next therapeutic goal, I think he’s helped us all a bit. He’s certainly cleared the way for therapists who are not concerned with curing celebrity-addicts, riddled with gobs of their own narcissism, to do the work necessary. And that’s what I intend to do.

So thank you Dr. Drew for paving the way through your decades of radio and television work. I’ll be ready to take it from here in September, once this Ph.D. is completed.