Philip Seymour Hoffman's Overdose
It's the latest story of a very successfulartist dying from addiction. I didn't say celebrity because he didn't strike meas such. A celebrity is someone famous who is compelled by fame to continue hisor her work. I once saw him in Othello that had been readapted by a living playwright and staged at NYU. I found it unbearably pretentious and long, but then again everyone hated it including all the critics. Still, even as an unsophisticated theater viewer I felt his amazing stage presence; it was clear he was an artist, a very serious artist.
Studies have linked creativity to susceptibility to mentalillness. And the connection between mental illness and addiction is undeniable. “Mental illnesses can lead to drug abuse.Individuals with overt, mild, or even subclinical mental disorders may abusedrugs as a form of self-medication,” according to the National Institute onDrug Abuse — addiction is a mental illness. The problem is that drugs,especially opiates are extremely addictive (psychologically andphysically) and the possibility of overdose increases as tolerance builds — thelonger you use you need a bigger dose of the drug to for the same level of euphoria.
What's more troubling is that when a recoveringopiate addict relapses, they face a greater risk for overdose. It's becausephysical tolerance decreases during recovery, but the psychological craving forthe drug persists.
Sadly, the often-quoted AA/NA mantras "oneday at a time" and "once an addict, always an addict" ring tootrue.
There are tons of interviews and articles about PSHtalking about acting and his struggle with addiction. After attending NYU as anundergraduate, he went to rehab and was sober for 23 years. This past year hepublicly admitted to relapsing on painkillers that led to sniffing heroin. He then went into a drug treatment program for ten days, which really means he detoxed from opiates for ten days.
Why did PSH only spend ten days in "treatment"? Ifhe did get treated in a proper rehab program (28 days or longer), would I bewriting about him along with so many others?
Relapsing after 23 years of sobriety, he does"rehab" for ten days. And less than a year later he is found dead ina luxurious bathroom with a needle his arm, in his underwear, next to baggiesof heroin.
Of all the great movies he's been in, Iremembered Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, a darkcomedy (the internet says a thriller) about a very anxious man, his dysfunctional family and the desperatemeasures he takes to escape his life. PSH plays the man who plans to "rob"his parent's jewelry store with the help of his useless brother. Things gowrong, and his situation worsens. And behind all his trouble is his addictionto heroin. Near the end of the movie, we find him in a luxury apartment, noordinary shooting gallery. He makes his purchase, shoots up and is left alone tonod off on very expensive furniture.