Despite celebrities seemingly having endless amounts of money, happiness, and good intentions, many turn to drugs and alcohol to escape their problems. One famous example is Drew Barrymore. Drew Barrymore was a child actress, and became famous at age six when she played Gertie in the popular film E.T. After starring in E.T., she played roles in many more successful films. Despite having lots of money and a successful career, Barrymore turned to drinking and drugs at a very young age. Barrymore began to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes at age nine, she started smoking marijuana and partying at nightclubs at age 10, at age 12 she began to use cocaine, at age 13 she had already gone through drug rehabilitation treatment twice, and at age 14, she had attempted suicide. Many people believe she was influenced by her family; her father struggled with alcoholism and was not able to see Drew for several years due to his arrests. In addition, Barrymore’s grandfather, John Barrymore, died young from a collection of many things, including liver and kidney …show more content…
Drugs are chemicals, and when you process these chemicals, they affect the brain’s communication system. When you are addicted to drugs and overuse them, they can have long-term effects on your brain. When a person takes a drug, the limbic system of the brain releases dopamine to make the user feel good. This is the feeling that becomes addictive. Our brains reward us with small amounts of dopamine when we do actions that are good for us. However, while using drugs, the brain is “tricked” into rewarding the user with high levels of dopamine when they are actually causing harm. When addicted to drugs, the user’s brain is unable to naturally produce normal levels of dopamine, so the user craves drugs to restore the dopamine levels to normal. Essentially, the user is unable to naturally feel good without the
The novel Go Ask Alice written anonymously tells the story of one girl’s struggle with drug addiction. The conflict in this novel is person versus self. The protagonist is struggling against herself trying to overcome addiction. The mood is depressing. The main character reveals how drugs ruined her life, which evokes depressed feelings in the reader. The point of view is first person. This is a publishing of a teenage girl’s diary and she wrote in first person. The conflict, mood, and point of view make this book a work of realistic fiction.
The term addiction can be interpreted in many ways, concering both illegal and legal substances. Not only can one become addicted to a substance, but also activities like gambling, shoplifting, and sex. Prior to considering addiction, one must first understand what constitutes a substance. Levinthal (2002) describes a drug as a chemical substance that changes the functioning of the body when ingested (4). Although illegal drugs may come to mind when hearing this definition, alcohol and tobacco fit under this criteria as well. For the purpose of this essay, controlled and regulated (licit/legal) substances will be focused upon. Alcohol is a regulated substance that can be thought of as a social drug (Levinthal, 2002, p.192) and arguably tobacco
Gold, Todd. “The Secret Drew Barrymore.” - Substance Abuse, Coping and Overcoming Illness, Drew Barrymore : People.com. People, 16 Jan. 1989. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Growing up, Lindsay Lohan lived a typical childhood with the exceptions of constantly being in the
Little Girl Lost is an autobiography written by actress Drew Barrymore. When this book was written Drew was around the age fourteen. Drew Barrymore is the grand-daughter of actor John Barrymore. Most people know Drew from the hit movie E.T where she captured the hearts of thousands of people. Sadly, during this time, all of the fame got to her, she began partying which led to drinking. Drinking led to doing drugs like marijuana, and eventually cocaine; she was only twelve years old (Barrymore 1). Drew’s parents separated when she was young, her father left and she stayed with her mother. Drew and her mother were not very close, her mother was always working trying to provide for them, and so she was stuck either with a nanny or by herself. When Drew Barrymore began to spiral down into drugs and alcohol her mother did not even notice. Her mother finally realized what was happening when the tabloids reported stories and pictures of her partying and getting out of control. Her mother decided it would be best for Drew if she went to rehab. The first time Drew Barrymore went to rehab she ended up relapsing fairly quickly and her drug addiction became worse. This happened a few times. By the end of the biography Drew had just gotten out of rehab and was doing well. She states, “I think about that every day. All addicts do. You are never without the fear of returning to your old ways and losing everything that you’ve gained. When you’re sober, you don’t forget what it was like to use. It’s hard, really hard, and you take it day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. That’s the way it’s going to be for as long as I’m alive. But at least I’m alive” (Barrymore 260).
Stress, there is no way to avoid stress being alive. For some reason, people try to avoid, or run away from their problems by doing all kinds of drugs, such as nicotine, marijuana, ecstasy, and much more. These drugs relaxes people, relieving stress for a period of time. Of course, doing drugs is not good for your health, and we can not really prevent people from doing drugs, and getting an addiction in the first place. What people with drug addictions need to do is find any source of help as soon as possible, relieve their stress, or just find a medication. If nothing is treated to the addiction, then the addiction will just grow worse. Drug addictions can only prevent people from accomplishing goals or dreams in life. People sometimes feel
This young star grew up in a very tough Hollywood lifestyle. She attended many late night parties, publicity events, and clubs. She also was known as “E.T.’s pal, Gertie, parties ‘till 3.” Soon Drew started smoking, sneaking sips of her older friends’ drinks, and experimenting with drugs. As her drug use and drinking grew more addicting, she could hardly hide it from the outside world.
Even though some parents believe Hollywood has a positive impact on their children most believe otherwise. Children can develop health problems from having a celebrity role model; such as, anorexia, self-harm, or self-esteem issues. Youth do this to obtain that celebrity look of ‘perfection’. Celebrities act as role models for youth throughout the nation and they should live up to it.
Cat Marnell is a dysfunctional drug addict. Every chance she got to become a better person, she threw it away. Why would she do that, what drove her to ruin her life?
The world was happy to see her healthy and singing again; everyone thought she had made a full recovery and was ready for her to appear back into the spotlight. Tragically, on February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel, she was 48 years old. Her mother, Cissy Houston, has written a book about her daughter's life, entitled Remembering Whitney, which depicts the rise and fall of the tragic singer's life. The purpose of my paper is to evaluate the reasons as to why Whitney Houston began to use drugs and how it played a professional and personal role in her life. I have utilized these approaches: trait approach, L-data and psychosocial development, in order to garner a better understanding as to why someone who is highly regarded could use drugs, as a form of solace and comfort at the peak of her stardom....
Drew has a career as a model, film director and an actor. Drew first did a television advertisement when she was only 11 months old then in 1978 she did a episode in The Walton’s, 2 years after she did a film debut in Altered States. At the age of seven she hosted a TV show called Saturday Night Live she was the youngest person to become a hostess. At the age of nine she started smoking cigarettes when she was 11 she drank alcohol at the age of 13 she took cocaine and then at 14 she went to rehab for being addicted to it. she also tried committing suicide at the age of 14 too, so David Crosby decided she needed a three month stay with him and his wife . In 1990 a book called Little Girl lost was published it was about her troubled childhood and how...
There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues." (2) In the brain, there are many changes that take place when drugs enter a person's blood stream. The pathway in the brain that the drugs take is first to the ventral tegmentum to the nucleus accumbens, and the drugs also go to the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is called the mesolimbic reward system. The activation of this reward system seems to be the common element in what hooks drug users on drugs (2).
If there is one individual in the celebrity world that is known for his or her troubled thoughts or misbehavior, there isn’t anyone better to recognize other than Lindsay Lohan. An American star, model, and singer, Lohan was recognized in all different aspects of Hollywood because of her talents as a young actress. However, as her stardom continued to progress, so did the instability in her mental health. The mass media and people alike had an influence on Lohan’s behavior by distorting how she was portrayed on and off the screen. Lohan’s family life also had a huge impact on her turnout because she was constantly around the instability of her family members, thus affecting her mental
Without contrast, the primary reason for drug abuse in individuals comes from the conscious state of addiction. According to Webster’s, addiction is described as “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity (Hacker, 2011).” Sure, human nature’s desire to conform to peer pressure might cause one to first try a certain drug, but the euphoric mental states found in drugs mentally trap many individuals into becoming dependent upon these sensations. With that being said, these sensations vary depending on the type of drug used.
Humans are environmentally and genetically predisposed to developing a motivated addictive behavior. Addiction is a brain disease and a behavior. All behaviors are choices. Choices that adolescences make at a young age directly affect the outcomes of their futures. Many factors contribute to an adolescence becoming an addict or exhibiting a drug seeking behavior. Nearly all drugs of abuse increase dopamine release. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in drug abuse and addiction. Dopamine plays a role in reward motivated behaviors, motor control and important hormones. It’s known as the “feel good hormone” which is why people abuse drugs that increase the release of dopamine. Since life is unpredictable, our brains have evolved the ability to remodel themselves in response to our experiences. The more we practice an activity the more neurons developed in order to fine-tune that activity causing addictive behaviors to be detrimental.