Often, celebrities involve themselves in drug and substance abuse for various reasons known to them. In the past years, high numbers of celebrities have been plagued with substance abuse challenges, with terrible outcomes (Lathan, 2017). Many have lost their lives while a few have survived after realizing the impact the drugs had on them and took corrective measures. Eric Clapton is a good example of such celebrities. Eric Clapton is a well-known rock and blues guitarist in United State and across the world. The celebrity spent huge sums of money about $16,000 weekly on heroin and cocaine (Autobiography, & Clapton, 2017). Despite the hard and difficult times he had, he overcame his addiction problem and is currently a reformed man.
Eric Clapton’s Root Cause into Drug and Substance Abuse Addiction
There are various factors that drive people into drug and substance abuse. These include poverty, low self-esteem, stress, early marriages and pregnancies and peer pressures among others. For Eric Clapton, the root cause of his addiction is poverty or the difficulty he went through in his tender age. He was born to a 16 year aged mother. At this point his mother had nothing to support and care for him (Autobiography, & Clapton, 2017). As a result he was taken care of by his grandmother and made to believe that his real mother was his elder sister. The use of the heroin and cocaine helped him escape reality not knowing that, that was a dangerous move (Oksanen, 2017).
The impact of the Addiction
Like any other person, Eric Clapton first use of heroin and cocaine made him feel that it had positive effects since he could perform better. Additionally, the use of these drugs made him believe that he could manage them. However, this went a blast in the 1960s when his addiction to drugs and alcohol went out of control. From his autobiography, Eric Clapton believed that he handled the problem at hand and he could handle it and in any case it was not the best time to stop abusing the drugs (Autobiography, & Clapton, 2017). The use of these drugs really wasted Clapton’s productive life as a youth. By all means, he will never recover this good time of his life that he wasted. Before taking various interventions to curb his situation, drugs took Eric Clapton life. For him all pleasurable acts such as his career development in the music industry became less enjoyable and abusing drugs became a prerequisite for him to feel normal (Autobiography, & Clapton, 2017). Irrespective of the impact his use of drugs had on his mother, grandmother and himself, he continually abused it. Even after Eric Clapton refrained from the use of heroin and cocaine, he turned alcohol but later acknowledges it and went for treatment.
From research, it is evident that addictive drugs and substances such as alcohol, heroin, and cocaine among others have a huge impact to one’s health. For instance, addictive drugs alter the brain by crossing the blood-brain barrier. Through imitation of various neurotransmitters, they trigger the mesolimbic reward system in the brain (Lathan, 2017). As a result, brain’s metabolism is changed, craving is generated and individual’s personality is altered.
Treatments and Interventions on the Addiction
Substance/ drug addiction is chronic problem revolving around compulsive or unmanageable drug quest and consumption in spite of its dangerous outcome and alteration in the brain (Oksanen, 2017). The alteration in the brain are often long lasting and cause death or dangerous behaviors observed in people who abuse substances and drugs. Addiction is also relapsing disease as witnessed among many survivors of drug use. Often, survivors return to drug use and trying to stop.
After Eric Clapton felt that it was the right time to refrain from the use of drug abuse, various treatment and interventions played were played. For instance, his guitarist Pete Townsend organized an intervention. He first of all made sure that Clapton overcame the use of heroin and cocaine. After this was achieved, Eric Clapton he seriously abused alcohol. In the 1980s, Eric Clapton realized himself and acknowledged his alcohol abuse and initialized his second search of treatment. This was a turning point for Eric Clapton (Autobiography, & Clapton, 2017). He later created a rehabilitation center, ‘Crossroads’ rehabilitation center in Antigua to assist other overcome this ordeal and live a positive life. This has really helped the teenagers and low income individuals in the Caribbean region since the services are less expensive and more so, the center offers scholarships.
The treatment process involved detoxification. This involves the process through which the body gets rid of the drugs. Additionally, the behavioral counseling was essential in the case of Eric Clapton. Additionally, his turn into alcoholism required treatment, medication and evaluation and assessment treatment of mental disorders linked to drug abuse such as depression and anxiety (Oksanen, 2017). Additionally, follow up was essential in this scenario. Medication is very essential since it can be used to control, manage and suppress withdrawal symptoms in the detoxification process. Additionally, it helps curb relapse and deal with co-occurring challenges (Oksanen, 2017). To deal with drug addiction such as Eric’s situation such interventions as crisis intervention, tough love intervention and Johnson model of intervention are appropriate.
In regards to drug and substance abuse and addiction, the major debate revolves around the best ways to deal with the menace of addiction. Despite various advocates assume that the war on drug is in vain, legalizing is not the best move to go anyway as it causes a considerable challenges. Dramatic progress has been made on treatment and fight against addiction (Lathan, 2017). Drug courts are widely distributed across and criminal justice has advanced and supports addiction treatment. Education and awareness creation is also a major tool to curb youth involvement in drug abuse.
