Rise and fall of Ted Williams

[MaggieMae]

This poor guy's 15 minutes of fame was so predictable. He was a mess, and thank God someone stepped in and got him into rehab where he has a real chance to clean up his act.

I've never thought of Dr. Phil as being anything much more than a bloviating quasi-shrink more interested in stardom than healing, but I have to say, he took the bulls by the horn with this one. (Although it also made for good TV!)

Ted met with his estranged family in the segment aired on Wednesday, and it was all hugging and kissing and promises. Come to find out, there was a huge brawl in the hotel room the night after that meeting, cops were called and Ted and daughter Shanya hauled off to jail (but later released). So Dr. Phil got them all together again, and it was revealed that Ted had been drinking all along (from LA to NY and every spot in between).

What were the people who smothered him with money, jobs, and golden promises thinking? That someone with a 20-year history of drug/alcohol abuse would miraculously be cured if he was suddenly showered with material things? All that did was literally feed his addiction, and feed it well.

KUDOS to Dr. Phil for recognizing that immediately and getting him on the show, where I'm sure Ted Williams thought he was going to be lavished with even more praise, but got the surprise of his life when Dr. Phil made him face reality and got him into rehab.

Although I think the statistics are still dim for sustained recovery after rehab (3 in 10), this guy has a helluva lot waiting for him once he does get clean. I really hope he makes it. What a role model he could be for other suffering addicts who just can't make it on the outside.

 

[Madeline]

I'm sorry to hear he was drinking and needed rehab. I dunno why, but I guess I was one of the goofballs who thought he could turn his life around on a dime.

I hope he gets better.

 

[Mini 14]

Dr. Phil is a douchebag hack who would use his own mother if it would grab him another 15 minutes.

Taking psychological advice from him is like asking a fish how to ride a bicycle.

Now, opportunism, marketing, and shock......those are his true areas of expertise.

 

[MaggieMae]

Dr. Phil is a douchebag hack who would use his own mother if it would grab him another 15 minutes.

Taking psychological advice from him is like asking a fish how to ride a bicycle.

Now, opportunism, marketing, and shock......those are his true areas of expertise.

This isn't about Dr. Phil.
---->whoosh---->

 

[Sheldon]

Damn. Not sure how I feel about this. I had heard about him getting detained because of the public fight he was having with his daughter or whatever, but no idea about the whole Dr Phil thing.

Part of me is glad he'll be going to rehab and that he can hopefully get over his addiction.

Another part of me thinks, Dr P is just exploiting this guy. Dude's life did a 180 overnight. He probably had trouble coping with that, like the world just dropped onto his shoulders, and ran back to something that was familiar and comfortable to him: booze. If the employers are willing to pay him for his voice even if he's drinking, then let him resolve this issue on his own and with those he's close with. I hate to see this shit, this real life stuff, played out in front of millions of people. He probably feels humiliated.

 

[Revere]

Ted has been in and out of rehab for years. There's no way he was sober if he was still on the street.

Goes to show you the problem with homelessness is not a lack of a haircut, shave, some nice clothes, and a place to sleep.

 

[MaggieMae]

Damn. Not sure how I feel about this. I had heard about him getting detained because of the public fight he was having with his daughter or whatever, but no idea about the whole Dr Phil thing.

Part of me is glad he'll be going to rehab and that he can hopefully get over his addiction.

Another part of me thinks, Dr P is just exploiting this guy. Dude's life did a 180 overnight. He probably had trouble coping with that, like the world just dropped onto his shoulders, and ran back to something that was familiar and comfortable to him: booze. If the employers are willing to pay him for his voice even if he's drinking, then let him resolve this issue on his own and with those he's close with. I hate to see this shit, this real life stuff, played out in front of millions of people. He probably feels humiliated.

How humiliating is it to stand on a street corner, filthy, holding a crude sign begging for a job? He'll get over the humiliation of an intervention. And, as I said, the job offers and other media attention will still be there when he gets clean. That was NOT an option when he was in prior rehabs.

 

[MaggieMae]

Ted has been in and out of rehab for years. There's no way he was sober if he was still on the street.

Goes to show you the problem with homelessness is not a lack of a haircut, shave, some nice clothes, and a place to sleep.

Nope. But nobody wants to place a priority on dealing with addiction, which is rampant these days. I remember watching a press conference called by Joseph Califano, who dedicates his life now to the problems created by addiction, which was to discuss his foundation's findings on teen addiction to prescription drugs. Guess how many reporters showed up. Three.

 

[Mini 14]

Dr. Phil is a douchebag hack who would use his own mother if it would grab him another 15 minutes.

Taking psychological advice from him is like asking a fish how to ride a bicycle.

Now, opportunism, marketing, and shock......those are his true areas of expertise.

This isn't about Dr. Phil.
---->whoosh---->

Ok Maggie,

I bet Ted's gonna fail again.

There.

Happy now?

 

[elvis]

 

[MaggieMae]

Dr. Phil is a douchebag hack who would use his own mother if it would grab him another 15 minutes.

Taking psychological advice from him is like asking a fish how to ride a bicycle.

Now, opportunism, marketing, and shock......those are his true areas of expertise.

This isn't about Dr. Phil.
---->whoosh---->

Ok Maggie,

I bet Ted's gonna fail again.

There.

Happy now?

Statistics show he probably will. I started this thread in the Health section hoping to generate a discussion on addiction, not as a venue for insults from people like you who wake up ugly and stay that way throughout your miserable day.

 

[Trajan]

I hope he makes it. It goes to show though, you can be born with all the talent and get up and go in the world but if you have the enzyme or have a hereditary predilection to abusive behavior etc. its a crap shoot.

I think some people have it but never run across the element that takes them over. Some do and have the inner will and at the same time an openness for change that gets them across that great divide.

 

[Sheldon]

Damn. Not sure how I feel about this. I had heard about him getting detained because of the public fight he was having with his daughter or whatever, but no idea about the whole Dr Phil thing.

Part of me is glad he'll be going to rehab and that he can hopefully get over his addiction.

Another part of me thinks, Dr P is just exploiting this guy. Dude's life did a 180 overnight. He probably had trouble coping with that, like the world just dropped onto his shoulders, and ran back to something that was familiar and comfortable to him: booze. If the employers are willing to pay him for his voice even if he's drinking, then let him resolve this issue on his own and with those he's close with. I hate to see this shit, this real life stuff, played out in front of millions of people. He probably feels humiliated.

How humiliating is it to stand on a street corner, filthy, holding a crude sign begging for a job? He'll get over the humiliation of an intervention. And, as I said, the job offers and other media attention will still be there when he gets clean. That was NOT an option when he was in prior rehabs.

Before, he was just another random, faceless loser on a street corner.

Now, he's known by millions, who have expectations of him succeeding--and his personal drama is playing out for everyone to see. That's the humiliation I was referring to, that these millions of people could construe this return to rehab as a quick failure.

What I'm saying is the Doc didn't need to make a big show of this. It should've been handled quietly, privately.

And it's not "when he gets clean". It's if. A big if.

 

[Mini 14]

This isn't about Dr. Phil.
---->whoosh---->

Ok Maggie,

I bet Ted's gonna fail again.

There.

Happy now?

Statistics show he probably will. I started this thread in the Health section hoping to generate a discussion on addiction, not as a venue for insults from people like you who wake up ugly and stay that way throughout your miserable day.

What would you like to discuss about addiction?

How you wish it would be?

Or how it is?

How it is is that you can't cure addiction for anyone. Only they can cure it for themselves. No matter what you do, what you teach, what you give, or what you take away, until THEY want to give up the addiction, they won't.

Sounded to me like you were as concerned with patting "Dr." Phil on the back for putting Mr. Williams in greater risk as you were hoping for Mr. Williams to beat the odds and actually get clean. I merely pointed out that "Dr." Phil is an idiot (IMO). He is to psychology what Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olberman are to news......a commentator, not a practicing physician. He is a complete, fabricated fraud. An actor, playing a psychologist. (You do know his license was stripped over an inappropriate relationship with a 19 year-old patient, right? And that his psychological "expertise" is futile in helping him to deal with his own father, whom he doesn't speak with and hasn't in over 25 years?)

Chances are that Ted won't make it. To me, it seems he's "playing the game" and "saying all the right things," but I don't sense that he's sincere. What cures addiction is that you have to hit bottom. I don't think Ted has, and I don't think any of this attention, or Dr. Phil's whoring of his story (along with all the others who have done the same) is helping either.

It would be a warm fuzzy story if we get to write the ending. The problem is, only Ted can do that, and his track record prior to his salvation wasn't too good. Since his salvation, its been about the same as it was before.

I hope he makes it, I really do.

But I don't think he will until he hits bottom. Only he knows where the bottom is for him, but it seems obvious to me that he hasn't hit it yet.

And I certainly don't think an opportunistic thespian, pretending to be a Doctor of Psychology, is any friend of Ted's. Certainly not at this point in his life. Ted needs help from REAL Doctors, not Oprah's pool boy.

 

[MikeK]

Williams quite clearly is an extreme example of the self-destructive personality. Within 72 hours after being lifted from the sewer and placed on a bed of roses he set about to do precisely what he knows very well will sabotage his good fortune.

This rehab interlude is a short pause in what amounts to a long, drawn-out, painful suicide. Has anyone here seen the very disturbing (Nicholson/Streep) movie, Ironweed? It tells about people like Williams.

 

[Madeline]

I hope he makes it. It goes to show though, you can be born with all the talent and get up and go in the world but if you have the enzyme or have a hereditary predilection to abusive behavior etc. its a crap shoot.

I think some people have it but never run across the element that takes them over. Some do and have the inner will and at the same time an openness for change that gets them across that great divide.

Ayup.

There but for the grace of God......

 

[editec]

Are you talking about TED WILLIAMS the baseball player?!

 

[MikeK]

Are you talking about TED WILLIAMS the baseball player?!

No. The skid-Row bum with the brilliant radio voice who was lifted from the Pit to the Pedestal but went back to the bottle within three days. He hasn't had enough pain and humiliation. He wants more.

Now he's in some alcoholic rehab program, most of which are marginally effective and produce temporary results in the majority of cases. Those standard AA programs will not work for this fellow. The only type of program that will work for people like Williams would be something along the lines of the Parris Island experience. Long-term physical misery and psychological torture that he cannot resign or escape from. If they can survive three months of that without booze they will have permanently overcome their weakness.

It's either that or give them a place to flop, one hot meal a day, and all the booze they want until they die from it. Shorten their journey.

 

[American Horse]

I thought the instant I saw him being asked to do soliloquies before a camera that he was making a huge mistake. His existence, such as it was, depended on a very low profile. Once he broke that rule his situation would change in unknown ways.

I suspect that once he was discovered he would be contacted by some close relatives, and there would be some confrontations and tense moments, which would get him into trouble with the law.

I doubt that this will enure to anyone's benefit.
Hopefully you are right Maggie.

 

[MaggieMae]

Damn. Not sure how I feel about this. I had heard about him getting detained because of the public fight he was having with his daughter or whatever, but no idea about the whole Dr Phil thing.

Part of me is glad he'll be going to rehab and that he can hopefully get over his addiction.

Another part of me thinks, Dr P is just exploiting this guy. Dude's life did a 180 overnight. He probably had trouble coping with that, like the world just dropped onto his shoulders, and ran back to something that was familiar and comfortable to him: booze. If the employers are willing to pay him for his voice even if he's drinking, then let him resolve this issue on his own and with those he's close with. I hate to see this shit, this real life stuff, played out in front of millions of people. He probably feels humiliated.

How humiliating is it to stand on a street corner, filthy, holding a crude sign begging for a job? He'll get over the humiliation of an intervention. And, as I said, the job offers and other media attention will still be there when he gets clean. That was NOT an option when he was in prior rehabs.

Before, he was just another random, faceless loser on a street corner.

Now, he's known by millions, who have expectations of him succeeding--and his personal drama is playing out for everyone to see. That's the humiliation I was referring to, that these millions of people could construe this return to rehab as a quick failure.

What I'm saying is the Doc didn't need to make a big show of this. It should've been handled quietly, privately.

And it's not "when he gets clean". It's if. A big if.

Well, people who appear as guests on Dr. Phil get paid, so I'm sure that's part of the reason it got all the publicity. Plus I don't think it's a bad idea to show millions of people what can happen when you're a serious addict and try to go it alone. It just...doesn't...work. That's the real problem with most addicts who really want to get clean because their addictions have become a real sickness, and they will be sicker when they try to stop abruptly. You can't just detox for 3 days, then think you're cured, and start all over again thinking you've got a handle on it now.