Addiction

In the third season of the hit HBO television series The White Lotus, actress Parker Posey plays the role of Victoria Ratliff, an over-the-top Southern matriarch whose lorazepam prescription becomes a plot device when it goes missing. Ratliff takes the benzodiazepine to treat a chronic social anxiety disorder compounded by her eccentric personality and questionable morality. When she loses her pills at the luxury resort,

Film critics and audiences were strongly divided on the topic of who should have won the Oscar for Best Leading Actress at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. Mikey Madison won for her role in Anora. However, many felt Demi Moore should have received the award for The Substance, a body horror film about a woman who relies on an experimental medication as she tries

In January 2021, behavioral scientists from the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) published their findings from a clinical research study involving 403 patients trying to recover from severe methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). The study unfolded over two years, and it featured two prescription medications: bupropion in oral form and injectable naltrexone. All patients received contingency management and cognitive behavioral therapy, the two

Addictions develop through patterns of thought, behavior, and action. Most people who fall into substance abuse and neurochemical dependence get there through a mindset of compulsion, impulsivity, and obsession. Compulsion often follows certain degrees of obsession or habituation. It involves repetitive behaviors or reasoning we feel driven to perform. We’re impulsive when acting on sudden urges like cravings and withdrawal symptoms. When we think obsessively

Hollywood productions and feature films centered on gambling are usually thrillers and crime dramas that don’t go too deeply into themes about addiction. This trend started turning around in 2014 with The Gambler, a remake of a gritty 1974 film that explored the psychological aspects of compulsion. In 2019, Uncut Gems quickly rose to cult film status, thus opening the floodgates for more recent productions

Most of the news headlines about the American opioid crisis are pessimistic. They often focus on fatal overdose statistics and dramatic crime reports that highlight the futility of the “War on Drugs.” In recent months, however, reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have shown progress. CDC statistics show a 4 percent decrease in overdose deaths from 2022 to 2024, and only

Many popular culture observers consider the first decade of the 21st century to have been the “Golden Age of Reality Television.” The VH1 series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew aired during the late years of this period. It documented the lives of many showbiz celebrities treated for substance abuse and addiction at the Pasadena Recovery Center in California. As can be expected from a Golden

Two of the most celebrated Hollywood films about alcoholism feature plotlines showing the struggles endured by partners and spouses. In 1945, The Lost Weekend was the first major production to include a storyline about an alcoholic’s girlfriend. Five decades later, When a Man Loves a Woman flipped the script, with Meg Ryan playing an alcoholic housewife who imposed a significant emotional burden on her husband,

Following the death of Matthew Perry in October 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department requested the assistance of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate two physicians accused of providing the famous Hollywood actor with ketamine. One of the doctors who pleaded guilty to supplying Perry with the ketamine that resulted in his fatal overdose is a San Diego resident, and the investigation revealed

Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of the legendary musician Elvis Presley, passed away in early 2023. A year later, her talented daughter Riley Keough published From Here to the Great Unknown, a memoir she co-authored with her mother about Presley’s turbulent life. Beyond the tragic overdose death of her father, the “King of Rock,” to her bizarre marriage to Michael Jackson, the “King of