Dr. Phil: Are They Enabling Her?
Dr. Phil has been sitting down with the family of 22-year-old Taylor, a drug-addicted mother who overdosed last week and had to go to the hospital to be resuscitated and has been arrested for breaking into people’s homes in the past. Taylor’s parents, Cheryl and John, have been doing most of the talking. After revealing that John gave Taylor some of his prescribed morphine—90 milligrams of it—Dr. Phil moved on to other enablers in the family.
Dr. Phil: How Do You Help Someone With Addiction?
Dr. Phil talked to Taylor’s family to see which of them may be enabling her. He urged the family to be ready to send her to prison in order to encourage her to get help. (Mattz90 / Shutterstock.com)
Cheryl and other family members say that Taylor’s grandmother Phyllis is a big enabler. Phyllis said that Taylor stays with her sometimes. Shannon said that Taylor will ask Phyllis to pay for hotels or to come pick her up before and Phyllis does it. Cheryl said that she’s tried to tell Phyllis not to do it, because she didn’t want anyone to enable Taylor.
John admitted they’ve failed Taylor as parents, but he didn’t know how to help her. Dr. Phil told him he needed to get off the drugs that he’s on. John has been taking a combination of Dilaudid, Valium, and morphine for 10 years. Dr. Phil thinks he might be an addict.
Dr. Phil: Dual-Diagnosis Recovery Center
Ben Levenson, chairman of the board of the Origins Recovery Center and Hannah’s House, then spoke up. This is the dual-diagnosis center Dr. Phil will send Taylor to free of charge if she agrees, a center which focuses both on addiction and the other things that might be wrong with her.
Dr. Phil asked Ben Levenson to back him up when he said that Taylor is going to write a letter to her family that will say they need to come get her because the treatment isn’t the answer and that the people there are horrible. Ben Levenson said that every client sends that letter.
“Every client sends that letter at some point because during the treatment process, everything that we do absolutely threatens the existence of addiction and it makes a last gasp for its life,” Ben Levenson said, sounding a bit like an exorcism expert in a horror movie.
Dr. Phil said that in order to help Taylor, the family has to be willing to send her to prison if she doesn’t go into rehab. That way, Taylor can understand they’re serious this time.
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