Sherry Gaba LCSW, Psychotherapist, Life & Recovery Coach is featured Celebrity Rehab on VH1. Sherry is the author of “The Law of Sobriety” which uses the law of attraction to recover from any addiction. Please download your free E books at sherrygaba.com. Contact Sherry for webinars, teleseminars, coaching packages and speaking engagements. Listen to Sherry on “A Moment of Change with Sherry Gaba” on CBS Radio. Struggling with your own love junkie dramas? You’re not alone. Join my free newsletter community to get the support you need to stop the madness before it affects your next relationship or the one you are in now. – Get the Love You Truly Deserve!

As someone who both worked on air and behind the scenes of Celebrity Rehab, I am continually asked, does the cast of Celebrity Rehab get the treatment they need and if so, why now five deaths? My answer is always the same. There is no cure for addiction and alcoholism but there is treatment. The treatment is simple; but it is people that complicate it. It entails going to 12 step meetings, getting a sponsor, having a higher power in your life (whatever that higher power is whether it is Buddha, God, the room of Alcoholics Anonymous or nature), seeking psychotherapy or a psychiatrist if medically necessary, and having a fellowship of friends that will support you as you go through the recovery process. This is the same treatment for anyone in recovery.
Unfortunately, for celebrities, musicians, and singers such as Mindy McCready, there is so much pressure to be seen in the highest regard by their fans and the public that pressure to be “perfect”, sometimes takes priority. The shame that Mindy was feeling for her to leave treatment saddens me and is heart breaking. It is already difficult to get sober and to work a rigorous program of recovery, but to feel “less than” when you reach out for help is appalling. A solid recovery plan is what keeps addicts and alcoholics sober and those suffering from mental illness stable. Mindy was entitled to that and shame on the public for judging her or judging anyone willing to show the pain that goes into getting sober on Celebrity Rehab.

Celebrity Rehab is no different from any other rehab or psychiatric facility in that when the treatment is over, the cast members were given a discharge treatment plans to follow. When the plan is followed, long term sobriety is possible. For celebrities with their heavy schedules, public pressure, and being pulled in multiple directions by their “handlers”, they don’t always follow their treatment plans.

Mindy was alone, isolated, depressed, and suffering from multiple losses, from losing her children to the death of her soul mate. The pain was too great for her to bare, and I only hope that her death is a reminder of the seriousness of addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness; and if someone you know is crying out for help, please acknowledge their pain and get them the help they need.