People Features

Dr. David Sack interview, Promises Center may be Lohan's last hope

By April MacIntyre May 20, 2010, 21:18 GMT

Help is needed- Lindsay Lohan - France © Pixplanete / PR Photos

Lindsay Lohan's next booked event may be Promises Treatment Center in Malibu.

As Lohan struggles to maintain any semblance of her former life as a working actress, her rehab alma mater may be the best decision the flailing starlet can make to regain any hope of a future in Hollywood.

Malibu retreat and therapy center Promises Treatment Centers has housed the likes of Britney Spears and Lohan in a past stay. Lohan entered the Malibu program that year after getting busted for driving under the influence, but got another DUI several months after her treatment.

Under the leadership of Dr. David Sack, the center has undergone a change of management and has revamped its core business as an effective destination for struggling celebrities and people dead serious about cleaning up their act.

When Dr. David Sack acquired the treatment program and its Malibu and West L.A. campuses in 2008, the psychiatrist rehabbed the image and purpose of the centers so that the revolving door of celebrity do-over’s would cease, and end results would be improved dramatically.

According to Dr. Sack, the Promises staff he employs are licensed professionals with expertise in disorders such as depression and the latest celebrity problem – sex addiction.

The program had focused on traditional 12-step recovery methods, but Sack now offers more involved mental health treatment to patients with drug and alcohol addictions. The center allows outside medical Doctors to enter and treat patients as contracted help.

Promises charges $38,500 for a 90-day stay at its West L.A. facility, while treatment at its scenic Malibu location starts at $54,500 for a 31-day stay.

Promises Malibu offers such amenities as a tennis court, meditation areas, gourmet meals and 300-thread-count sheets.

Sack, who has 28 years of experience in clinical, research and administrative psychiatry, cited the home-like and relaxing setting as conducive to the healing process that addicted people need to make every minute count while in treatment.

Dr. Sack shared with Monsters and Critics that bureaucratic settings were not as effective for a patient's recovery, and the quality of the experience often hastened a patient's actual recovery time.

Dr. Sack also has implemented an improved follow-up care protocol and support alumni groups for those who finish their stays at Promises.

Monsters and Critics spoke to Dr. David Sack about his refocused Promises Treatment Center, which may see the return of a famous alumnus sooner than later.

Monsters and Critics: Dr. Sack, regarding sex addiction, why is it considered "addiction" when high profile men are caught cheating? When does garden variety bad behavior cross the line into addiction land?

Dr. David Sack: Not everyone who cheats is a sex addict. The idea of sexual addiction or compulsive sexual behavior should be used when the person is preoccupied with thinking about engaging in the particular behaviors and that these behaviors significant disrupt social or occupational functioning. The person who spends several hours day cruising internet pornography at work might be a good example.

The behavior interferes with work, involves risks (most employers monitor website activity) and the person continues to engage in the activity despite those risks. Someone who is in a failing marriage and starts an affair may be dishonest, but is not necessarily a sex addict.

M&C: Lindsay Lohan needs rehab again, yet is resistant. Can rehab really work for someone goaded or guilted into going?

DS: There is clear and convincing research that says that people who are court ordered in treatment do at least as well as individuals who self refer.

Individual in treatment for substance abuse who are court involved are actually less likely to commit suicide than those seeking treatment on their own.

The fact is that most people entering treatment for drug or alcohol problems are responding to external pressure that may come in the form of a spouse threatening to leave, an employer who threatens termination or legal proceedings (civil or criminal).

M&C: What are some of the strangest addictions you have encountered?

DS: I am more struck by how addictions take over a person’s life. When an intensely private person has multiple sexual partners, or a prescription drug addict take hundreds or pain pills during her pregnancy, or a physician has unprotected sex with multiple prostitutes.

It is a testament to how far the pursuit of gratification takes a person from their best selves.

In the news:

Dr. David Sack, CEO of Promises Treatment Centers appears on Dateline on July 31, 2009