If you’ve been
watching Celebrity Rehab 4, you’ve
seen the clients go bowling, go to the beach, hang out by the swimming pool and
enjoy a barbecue. Is that what rehab is really like?

          The answer is no–not even for the
famous. Celebrity Rehab is real in
the sense that the clients on the show are real addicts who are going through
real rehab. And all the things you see in the show really happened and were not
staged.

          But it’s also really television. So
what the producers choose to show you is what they think will make for good TV
viewing; it’s not a balanced picture of what goes on at the Pasadena Recovery
Center.

          What does go on? Everyone goes to two
group therapy sessions and one 12-step meeting every day. They have one-on-one
therapy sessions with me at least twice a week. They also have regular
one-on-one sessions with Dr. Drew.

          No one is allowed out of the center
unescorted (notice how many counselors were there at that beach trip?). And in
fact, they only get to leave on planned trips.

          All rehab is tightly structured and
focused, and Celebrity Rehab is no
exception.

Sherry Gaba, LCSW, is the author of “The Law of Sobriety” and the go to psychotherapist and life coach on Celebrity Rehab.  She has a private practice in Agoura, CA and does life coaching all over the world.  Contact Sherry at sgabatherapy.com to learn more about her teleseminars, audio program, life coaching, psychotherapy, workshops, and upcoming book signings and speaking engagements.