Cracked: Life on the Edge in a Rehab Clinic [Paperback]

Drew Pinsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2004

Dr. Drew Pinsky is best known as the cohost of the long-running radio advice program Loveline. But his workday is spent at a major Southern California clinic, treating the severest cases of drug dependency and psychiatric breakdown. In this riveting book, Pinsky reveals the intimate and often shocking stories of his patients as they struggle with emotional trauma, sexual abuse, and a host of chemical nemeses: alcohol, marijuana, Ecstasy, heroin, speed, cocaine, and prescription drugs. At the center of these stories is Pinsky himself, who immerses himself passionately, almost obsessively, in his work. From the sexually compulsive model to the BMW-driving soccer mom, Cracked exposes, in fast-moving, powerful vignettes, the true scope and severity of addiction, a nationwide epidemic.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Throughout Pinsky's time hosting MTV's popular Loveline show-in which he and cohost Adam Carolla (The Dr. Drew and Adam Book) frankly answered teen questions about sex and drugs-Pinsky also ran the drug addiction rehab clinic at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, Calif. In this engaging and well-written memoir, he incorporates a frank description of his work with the "manipulative, secretive, frightened, paranoid and unstable" patients at Las Encinas, a single-story bungalow on 30 acres once used as a Hollywood backdrop (this is where W.C. Fields died and Ozzy Osborne's son recently spent time). Pinsky plays down the Tinseltown connection, preferring to look at his entire range of patients, who represent "every possible facet of society, from the rich to the destitute to the socially prominent to the disconnected." What they share are the typical hot buttons of trauma-"pain, abuse, neglect, abandonment"-and the attempt to ease the pain through drug addiction. Pinsky provides a hard-nosed look at the realities of a detox clinic, from the patients' physical illness and flashbacks to doctors' letdown when a patient quits the program and returns to addiction. Pinsky freely admits that he doesn't know why some people "get it" and stay sober while others can't; at the same time, he openly discusses his own problems ("I turned to rescuing other people the same way my patients turn to drugs and alcohol").
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Dr. Drew Pinsky, famous as the compassionate and sensible advice doctor on the hugely popular radio show Loveline, shines here in his debut solo publishing effort. Pinsky's day job is not quite as glamorous as the Loveline gig: he tends to junkies, prescription drug addicts, and out-of-control alcoholics at a Southern California rehab clinic. Here he details, in an honest, intelligent, and touching way, the superhuman and often futile effort it takes to save these lost souls. Patients at the clinic include strung-out models and celebrities, messed-up Beverly Hills teens, as well as those from the other side of the tracks, all of whose cases encompass addictions to every known type of narcotic or alcohol. Pinsky doesn't spare the reader's feelings and details with a clinical eye the horror of these ravaged lives as well as their frightening process of physical withdrawal. The doctor also share his struggles with his own demons, including various emotional attachments to patients, his antipathy toward some, his compulsive need to save all of them, and the despair at the herculean tasks he sets himself to. He also marvels and finds comfort in the resiliency of the human spirit when even one patient finds the way to recovery. This excellent, highly topical, and well-written book is a must-have for public libraries. Kathleen Hughes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (October 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060096551
• ISBN-13: 978-0060096557
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (271 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Important Book, September 14, 2003

By 

disappointed "katydid171" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again (Hardcover)

This is a very important book. A must read for physicians, treatment counselors, psychotherapists, and families of loved ones with addiction, and for people that do not understand addiction. It is simple enough for a high schooler to read, and powerful enough for a physician to better understand and treat, or get help for an addicted patient.
I am a mother of 5, ranging in age 20-30 and am now raising a grandchild born to his addicted mother. I have listened to Loveline for a number of years. I got on the waiting list at Amazon.com, as soon Dr. Drew announced he had written a book.Coming from a family of alcoholics, I felt one of the most important points Dr. Drew stresses is compassion. An addict/alcoholic is in so much pain, which is hard to understand, as they can create a pile of pain. I have felt the judgement from others, over our situation, and it is difficult trying to explain to someone that does not understand the disease, that the affected person can actually be a very sensitive, caring, generous person, but the disease has a horrific power and until they "get it" nothing is more important than their drug of choice, which numbs the feelings, keeping reality at bay.This book is helpful to anyone who wants a clear idea of how an addict struggles, and the biology that makes that struggle so difficult. The book stayed with me for days.
It gave me added strength, to do the right thing, be firm, loving, accept that this is a life long journey for all involved, and to further address my co-dependancy.
This is a powerful book. And I have recommended it to many people.
Please keep writing Dr. Drew, and Thank you.

66 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read AND an Important Work, December 23, 2003

By 

My Uncle Stu (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again (Hardcover)

Addictions are uniquely crippling because, once the mechanism that mediates happiness is hijacked, what the hell do you have to go by? Logic? That hardly compares.

A little background: Eight years ago I was file clerk in the medical records department of a hospital, working the graveyard shift and listening to LoveLine on the radio. I had my share of self-destructive habits at that point, and hung around in a crowd where that was the norm. I found Dr. Drew to be uptight, dry, conservative and opinionated, but I also found Adam to be hysterical and the show to be entertaining enough to keep me listening. Eventually the reality that Dr. Drew presented night after night broke through my defenses and helped me get my act together.

Dr. Pinsky is fighting the good fight in his radio show and through his other media ventures. Is this book a GREAT book? No, not great by literary standards, I suppose. But good. And very readable. And, most critically, it is an important book. Dr. Pinsky describes in interviews how he turned the corner on this project when he let himself really pour his heart into it. And it shows. It is a labor of love, and I applaud his effort.

And, the show continues to be very entertaining. Adam is still very funny night after night. It's hard to know how many people have been positively affected by the show, but I suspect it's a much larger number than anyone suspects. I hope Adam and Dr. Drew continue on and are not tempted away by other projects and opportunities that will certainly arise.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "We're talking about rewiring your brain.", December 11, 2005

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again (Hardcover)

When I picked up this book in the library, I had never heard of Dr. Drew Pinsky. It turns out that he is the host of "Strictly Sex with Dr. Drew" on the Discovery Health Channel and the co-host of a radio call-in show, "Loveline," in which Dr. Pinsky helps mostly young adults with relationship, sexuality, and drug problems. The doctor is a board-certified internist and the Medical Director of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Pasadena's Las Encinas Hospital. "Cracked" is told in the first person (with help from Todd Gold). The doctor discusses the causes of addiction, why it is a chronic disease, and how his professional experiences as an addictionologist have been both rewarding and incredibly frustrating. He also presents some case studies (patients' names and details are disguised to insure privacy) and describes how and why certain individuals improved or failed to benefit from their stay at his treatment facility.

Writing in a conversational style, Dr. Pinsky walks the reader through his days and weeks at Las Encinas, where he puts in long hours together with hardworking nurses, counselors, and other dedicated colleagues. When an addict is admitted, he or she is usually severely disoriented and in unbearable pain. The drugs of choice include alcohol, marijuana, Vicodin, Oxycontin, Klonopin, cocaine, heroin, Ecstacy, or a combination of the above. Many of the addicts admitted to Las Encinas were abused by parents or other relatives, and they are unable to trust or make meaningful human connections. When they feel threatened, addicts take drugs to relieve their discomfort and withdraw from reality. In order to help his patients, Dr. Pinsky administers a carefully calibrated dose of medications to aid in detoxification and relieve some of the discomfort that accompanies this brutal process. Only after the patients have completed withdrawal can they begin to do the emotional work that will help them stay sober, one day at a time.

"Cracked" is difficult to read because the patients we meet are tremendously vulnerable and self-destructive. Dr. Pinsky admits that he often identifies too closely with his clients (he has "rescue issues"), and he has had to learn to step back in order to do his work more effectively. In the pages of "Cracked," the doctor introduces Amber, a beautiful and tortured woman with an abusive boyfriend, Esther, an elderly alcoholic with emphysema who knows that she is killing herself, and Hector, a long-time heroin user whose father is in prison and whose mother died of a heroin overdose when he was only nine.

I recommend "Cracked" for teenagers who are exposed to the drug culture and need an extra push to help them say "no," for drug users and those who care about them, and for anyone who wants to understand the biological and psychological aspects of addiction and recovery. This book is a fascinating and frightening look into a very dark abyss from which few people emerge successfully.