Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home. - Review - video recording reviews

Journal of Rehabilitation,  July-Sept, 1999  by Blandon Hunt

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Bill Moyers Produced by Public Affairs Television, Inc. Time: Videotape lengths vary from 1 to 1-1/2 hours

Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home is a videotape series that investigates addiction, treatment, and recovery in America. On the whole, I found this to be a thoughtful, well-documented, and well-presented overview of where we are as a nation in terms of addiction and recovery. The 5-part series reviews the science, treatment, prevention, and politics of addiction. Because each videotape addresses a particular area of addiction, tapes can be used individually or as the entire series. For review purposes, I will describe each tape individually and then discuss the series as a whole.

In the first tape, Portrait of Addiction, nine people who represent the diversity of addiction in terms of race and ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, gender, and substance of "choice," are interviewed about their experiences with alcohol and other drugs (AOD). Based on my own work counseling people in recovery, I believe the people selected do actually represent the many faces of addiction. The video starts with the nine people talking about their initial experiences with alcohol and other drugs. As they continue talking, the focus changes to problems and negative aspects of using. Because the interviews are with "real" people talking about their life experiences, their stories are believable and convincing so the viewer begins to appreciate how what was once recreational use can spiral into negative life consequences. As the interviews continue, the speakers talk further about how troubled their lives became without glorifying their AOD use, as is sometimes the case with people in recovery. It can be very challenging to present realistic and honest scenarios about AOD use and abuse without them seeming like "war stories," but the producers of this videotape were successful in avoiding that troublesome area. After they describe their greatest moments of despair, they talk about what led them to treatment. Each person's story is different and compelling. They are very honest about how difficult it was for each of them to get into treatment, giving people permission to do what they need to do to get into recovery. At the end of the tape, the nine people talk about what treatment means to them and how it changed their lives. Of all the tapes in the series, this was my favorite because it showed real people and how their lives were changed by the process of addiction. I can envision counselors and educators using this tape to educate family and friends about addiction, as well as professionals in related fields who have limited experience working with people in recovery. This tape could also be used in treatment groups to elicit discussion and break down the denial inherent in AOD recovery, and to show the hope and possibilities people may find in their own recovery.

The next tape, The Hijacked Brain, addresses research being conducted to determine how drugs effect the brain, investigating what they do and how they work. Interspersed with more scientific information are excerpts from two people talking about their own addiction. These excerpts are useful because they add a touch of humanness and reality to the important of research currently underway. The researchers describe addiction as a brain disorder that alters the way the brain functions, changing the biochemical processing of the brain, which results in compulsive and uncontrollable drug seeking and use. The scientists interviewed are trying to determine how drugs affect the brain so they can develop more effective treatment and relapse prevention programs. One researcher is working to determine what causes cravings by investigating the role of emotional memory in AOD abuse. Other researchers are investigating what makes some people addicts and not others by looking at genetic predisposition and family history. Bill Moyers described this research as scientists trying to discover "how biology and biography produce addiction." This tape would be useful to teach staff and clients, or students in an AOD course, about biochemical properties of addiction.

Changing Lives, the third videotape in the series, focuses on the variety of treatment options available to meet the myriad needs of people in recovery. Because recovery is such an individual process, no one program will meet the needs of all people. As with the other tapes, this tape includes people talking about their experiences with treatment and recovery, stressing that addiction can happen to anyone. It begins with a visit to Ridgeview Institute, a private program that uses the disease model for treatment. This program focuses on the significance and power of using groups for recovery. The next program described is Project Safe, located in Illinois. This innovative outreach program was designed to meet the needs of inner-city women in need of recovery who probably would not receive help otherwise. What makes this program different is the use of outreach workers to first get women involved in the program and then help them stay in the program. Project Safe is a day program designed to meet the challenges that prevent many women from entering and being successful in treatment, challenges like childcare, transportation, and family violence. The outreach workers are an essential part of the program, and their presence helps to create a new community of recovery for the women by addressing the difficulty of change, as well as the hope and potential involved in change. At the end of the tape, several people talk about the meaning and worth of 12-step programs, like Alcoholics Anonymous, by describing their own experiences with self-help programs. This tape would be particularly useful to teach students about different treatment options and strategies. It would also be a good tool to teach practitioners and potential funding sources about the unique challenges faced by women in need of treatment and recovery.