“Hooked” essay

The main goal of this paper is analysis of the famous book by Lonny Shavelson “Hooked”.

Before turning to the book several words could be mentioned about the author. Lonny Shavelson is not simply a writer, he is also a photojournalist and a physician at the same time. Lonny Shavelson lives in California. His photos and articles could be seen in The New York Times, People, TIME, Newsweek and some other. The author wrote another four books, to his works belongs also “A Chosen Date”. This was a book about euthanasia, it certainly could not let the readers stay indifferent to the matter, moreover it was the reason for the debates all over the whole country.

In the book, we are going to discuss in this paper – “Hooked” – the author made a long journey with 5 addict people following them at doctor’s offices, watching them through closed doors of rehabilitation offices, simply in the street. One of the main ideas of the author is the attempt to treat not only drug addiction as a disease, but to look deeper into the roots of it, like for example mental illness, mental trauma or even child abuse.  Usually the people engaged into rehabilitation process pay little attention to these matters, but they turn out to be vitally important for the whole treatment process.

There are some important questions the author asks in his book concerning this point: for example – “What could be the way for the system to treat the most difficult addicts, who need real and urgent help? What should the system do with those people, who relapsed, are they allowed to the rehabilitation programs again? There are always people who do not want to receive the treatment, how should doctors at rehab centers work with them?” (1). These are all sophisticated problems that appear constantly in the rehabilitation practice.

So no wonder that “Hooked” received a lot of attention and remarks and comments, some of the examples are:

“…Hooked brings home the reality of addicts’ lives and their need for drug rehab programs that work. Anyone with drug problem, caring for a loved one with a drug problem, or involved in drug rehab, must read this fascinating book.” – Martin Sheen, Actor.

“… A compassionate, brilliant book. Shavelon writes with a combination of intelligence, simplicity and emotion.” – Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review.

As it was already mentioned the plot of the book tells about 5 addicts, 2- heroin, 1-meth, 1 – crack, 1- alcohol – who do not actually have money for some decent treatment, who are so-called “street” addicts. The described events take place in San Francisco in 1990s. The city developed the policy called “open door”, promising help and treatment for all people who need it. The author underlines that not only the life of a addict but also the treatment system was in chaos. The word “system” has already some if not exactly negative but a kind of unpleasant and “cold” meaning in this story. And the system is not able to provide real help in the case with metally ill person, from the one hand he is not allowed to use this “everybody is welcome” system for drug addict as he is suffering from mental disorder and from the other hand he also gets refuses from the mental health center as they are supposed to work only with those people, who do not take drugs.

Usually the attitude of people to those who use drugs is negative and it can be logically explained. Nobody makes them do that, in most cases they start it consciously, maybe even understanding what might happen later, sometimes not quite consciously running from their difficulties in life, but as anybody has problems in life and finds strength to overcome them it is clear that such people who go the easiest (or maybe not always) way and give up, evoke contempt and scorn. Some people prefer simply not to notice and not to think about this part of society. They only become angry when “street” addicts commit some unlawful things or do harm to others.  But on the other hand none of us has the right to judge others, some people are able to cope with their problems without turning to alcohol or drugs and others are not and it never means that society should simply forget about them, as they do not exist or make their lives even more unbearable causing them to relapses and suicides. The author seemed to be a person who really cares, he didn’t simply write about addicts and made photos of them, but he also tried to help them the way he could, he fed them and held their babies and helped them with the authorities in San Francisco addiction treatment and mental health bureaucracies.  In his book, Shavelson gives them at least the chance to speak and maybe even to be heard. He tries to show not simply a group of addicts, but several people, for whom their life means constant struggle, struggle with their addiction, struggle for their place among others, for their better life conditions. This struggle actually started in early childhood, where they hardly experienced anything except for neglect and abuse. Lack of money for living is also a very important factor for their failure. The main goal of the treatment is to support people, bringing comfort and calmness to their lives, but Shavelson notices and shows it to the reader that really often, if not always the main needs and interests of the addicts are changed with those of the system itself. With a dose of sympathy the author describes the situation with Darlene: “she gets ping-ponged from one closed door to the other, and Public Works repeatedly rips her up her ingenious and cozy self-made refuges until she ends up sleeping in doorways..” (2).

The portraits presented by Shavelson apply not only to those who have some experience about addiction sphere, but also to those who never faced this side of our reality. The main heroes of the book are described in such a way that they become absolutely real, interesting and worthy of sympathy.

The author also takes efforts to prove that his heroes are absolutely typical examples, he provides some statistical reports. He is convinced that though there are probably less addicts nowadays, they still need support and corresponding help, besides their situation is very often made even worse by dual diagnoses: trauma, psychosis, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric disorders.  “ A tiny proportion of substance abuse programs and an even smaller number of mental health programs are qualified and willing to treat such addicts.” (1).

A lot of attention Shavelson paid to the Drug Court system. He expresses an idea that this Court is able to cope with some not correctly functioning elements of the treatment system, addicts have the chance to receive the necessary care and are directed to detoxification.

So, one of the most important questions of the author concerning the ability of the rehab clinics and programs to help those addicts who need it disastrously is still unanswered. He notices that he hasn’t seen any rehabilitation program done so well and thoroughly that he could judge whether it might work.

There were certainly ceveral examples of the rehab programs and of the ways of treating the patients.We could remember the case with Mike. He had his rehab program in Walden House, the one of the best rehab centers in the city. There were books of rules for addicts and they were not allowed to break any of them and when Mike, being beforehand one of the model participants, falls in love he breaks one of the rules and as a result he is under some storm of critic and accusations and thought that time he is allowed to stay at the clinic when he turns to heroin again he is thrown away. It is natural for the author to ask such a question: “What kind of medical treatment stops and kicks the patient out on the street just when he most needs it?” (2).

The story of another patient – Glenda – differes from others as she didn’t want to change her life from the very beginning and she wanted to go on drinking, but the rehab program did it best and she started to see some other reasons for living, but the program was paid only for 90 days and after that : “ the program throws her back into the same infested hell where she came from…” (1)

One of the main reasons for writing this book the author saw in making people open their eyes and pay attention to the problem of addicts, make them react and become involved instead of indifferent, make the specialists think over some reforms or even absolutely different methods of treatment industry. The book touches both social and moral issues, some common interests and at the same time leads deep into human soul “living” in the body which is trying to ruin itself and to survive simultaneously. And author does believe into their chances for salvation and wants the readers consider such possibility instead of turning away from addicts.