Lee says:  There is something happening that is truly scary. The so-called experts are being swayed by the media and the consumer is left wondering whom to trust. We are left to wonder what kind of professional would induce, condone and allow a woman to bring to term 8 infants when she already had a gaggle at home. What kind of medical professional would allow a woman to undergo 10 plastic surgery procedures under general anesthetic for countless hours because she wanted it? And certainly, I am left wondering that when leading professionals minimize the severity of mental illness, what does that say to society for those suffering on a daily basis?

          I have mentioned before that I have worked for many years in the field of recovery. I have dealt with the court system and have on many occasions recommended jail time for failed drug tests or fought tooth and nail to have clients released to rehab. The enormity of this responsibility is nerve-wracking; knowing that you hold the life of not only the person in question but society as a whole in your hand is daunting. One slip up and that person whom you diagnosed and publicly defended can kill a car-full of kids or themselves! In this line of work, mistakes happen but the reality is that we tend not to over-extend ourselves with certainty and paint the canvas with broad strokes since it can come back and bite us in the ass.

          Apparently, the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and more specifically, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Center, believe that they can say things with an air of willynillyness that most of us professionals eschew. Back in August, Lindsay Lohan was remanded to UCLA after her brief stint in jail for probation violation. Prior to her admittance into the esteemed lock-down program, it was revealed by probation that Lindsay regularly took Dilaudid, Adderall, Nexium, Zoloft, Trazodone and Ambien per doctor prescription. She had been, at some point, diagnosed with ADHD (thus the Adderall) and the court appointed psychological professional diagnosed her with Bipolar Disorder. After some time at UCLA, the professionals there concluded that she didn’t need 3 months of treatment. In fact, they argued that Lindsay had no issue at all with drugs citing that she had no withdrawal from them. According to TMZ “Our sources say Lindsay suffers from a personality disorder, which is all too common in society and sometimes partly the result of difficulties when growing up in Hollywood.” (8/19/2010)

          It is true that a diagnosis of true addiction to substances requires a withdrawal. However, since she had already spent two weeks in jail where you can assume that she took her meds as prescribed and not randomly and in excess, she may had already gone through some discomfort/withdrawal from the change in usage. There basis to discount addiction was not only, in my humble opinion, sloppy but downright unprofessional. This was a person convicted of DUI and Drug possession. She has had a very public issue with substances where she has been filmed on more than a dozen occasions under the influence. She has lost relationships, money, opportunity and career. And still, UCLA doesn’t see her substance use as a problem? And let me quickly address the flippant ‘personality disorder’ comment. If that is how a notable facility such as UCLA Neuropsychiatric Center sees personality disorders, it would behoove Hollywood to steer clear of them.

          The failure of multiple drug tests so soon after release is a symptom of something much bigger. Lindsay suffers from something that should have been obvious to the pros at UCLA. Apathy. None of what is happening is affecting her. I agree that she has a personality disorder and is a self-entitled little brat but behind all of this is an overwhelming sense of the indifference to her own consequences that alone should have been enough to warrant a deeper investigation into her psyche. I agree that she was misdiagnosed with ADHD and I do believe that she was over-medicated but not on the level of a Presley or Nicole. But cocaine was not prescribed and neither was alcohol.

          We can say Lindsay believes she is above the law and felt that she was untouchable. We can say that she has an over-inflated sense of ego and, paired with the sycophantic entourage that encourages this belief that the rules do not apply to her, she magically eludes consequences. Perhaps there is a loss of reality testing here that may have been hidden in previous evaluations and the original diagnoses of bipolar may hold up. Whatever it is, UCLA has dealt a blow to professional addiction specialists. In my opinion, their handling of this was shoddy and probably negligent. I guess I will probably never send them a resume now.