Wanna go to rehab? For free?

Another tenet of my argument (see prev. post) is that insurance-supported rehab must be available to food addicts in the same measure as it is for other addictions. I reached that conclusion via experience: I was in the eating disorders unit of a psychiatric hospital in 1991, and it remains a cornerstone of my recovery, which is in its 20th year.

 

 

I won't reprise that story here (though you can read all about it in Chapter 4 of "Fat Boy Thin Man"), but my stay, which came just before the advent of managed care, was insurance supported. Today, coverage — and therefore treatment itself — is far less available.

In the name of entertainment, Hollywood is lifting that bar temporarily for a handful of people. Twitter associate Tracey Gold is involved in casting a show about food-addiction treatment and is looking for likely candidates. She says she's looking for US citizens 18 years or older. Treatment of up to 90 days will be "free," though of course, the "cost" will be unraveling all the crap that underlies addiction in front of cameras.

If I needed treatment, I think I would do it, though I can only make that judgment from my current vantage point in recovery. Part of my motivation, today, would be to show that food rehab works; I wrote the book partly for the same motivation.

I don't know if I would have been so un-self-centered back in '91, but I just might have been enough of a show-off to invite the world into my world anyway.

If you're interested, go here

 

 


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