In recent articles, we have discussed a few of the occupations in America that come with the highest chances of addiction to various substances. Our first career choices were food service workers and the construction industry. Today, we are going to discuss the third leading job path that has a high addiction rate; at 12.4%—the arts.
The ‘arts’ refers to anyone from actual “art” right down to media, sports and entertainment. There is a lot of varied substance abuse in this group for a lot of different reasons. You will see or hear about some artists on the non-celebrity (non-Hollywood) stature abusing sedatives and alcohol. If they feel they have hit a writer’s block or are not selling their work as before, they may fall into a depression, relying on drugs to ease their disappointment in themselves. You may see those involved with the arts experiment with psychedelic drugs, in hopes to expand their mind and produce more interesting art and increasing profits.
Sports addiction recovery research shows quite a bit of addiction issues specific to pain medication, steroids and alcohol. Sports careers are very stressful, always a demand to be bigger and better than your competition. Thanks to testing for drugs, including steroids, there is limited drug use in the major sporting associations in America; however, it is still a problem. You also have alcoholism issues because of depression (losing a game, not getting on the team) and pain relief. You also see Vicodin addiction and other painkiller abuses in sports careers. They often get hurt, sometimes very badly and easily get addicted, taking pills to feel good enough to get back on the field. Sometimes, the injury is career ending. Depression usually sets in when something like that happens. It fuels the desire to feed the addiction. A career-ending injury could very well be responsible to addictions like Vicodin or alcohol. An addiction recovery center would be best to both manage the pain of the injury and help with counseling for the mental distress. Detoxification should be as comfortable as possible, something New Mexico Addiction Recovery Center Vista Taos strives hard to provide their patients. Pain can be treated with more than just Vicodin or alcohol.
Then we have the celebrity sector of the arts. These are the musicians, actors, writers and so on. Why do celebrities use drugs? There are a lot of answers to that question. Each celebrity’s addiction can be looked at and judged on a case by case basis, but usually: celebrities are stressed. It looks like they have the life we have always dreamed of, but look closely. They are stressed to meet the harsh deadlines of movie and TV filming schedules, to top their last best-selling single and to look like a million bucks and never age. They turn to drugs to cope, and it has been that way for a very long time. If you look at celebrities, there are very few positive role models for them to turn to…how can we expect them to be sober when it seems like almost everyone in the industry suffers from alcohol addiction, abuses Vicodin or is caught with cocaine? Drug use and celebrity status have been connected since the beginning.
People in the arts may also have a lot more disposable income, which means plenty of money to fuel an addiction. They also can afford the stays at addiction recovery centers, fall back into addiction and repeat the process. There does not seem to be a silver lining in the distance, showing that drug and alcohol addiction among celebrities will be decreasing anytime soon. It will always cover the front of magazines and continue to be a hot topic in the entertainment realm.
But, even the most addicted celebrity, painter, athlete or director can find sobriety; they have before. Sometimes it takes a rude awakening to make a celebrity realize they do not have super powers. They can get in trouble with the law for drugs and alcohol and they behaviors while under the influence, look at Charlie Sheen. They can serve jail time because of their addictions and failed rehabilitation attempts, look at Lindsay Lohan. They can also let their addiction cost them their life, like Greg Giraldo. He died last year after an overdose on prescription drugs like Vicodin. Celebrity drug use will continue to be a hot topic, as reality shows boasting to be “sober houses” pop up on cable. Celebrities and non-celebrities that need addiction recovery should never rely on another celebrity to get clean. Learn more about Vista Taos Addiction Recovery Center in New Mexico by visiting: www.VistaTaos.com.
