I am not a big fan of Dr. Phil or Lindsay Lohan, but I am peeved and decided to say something.
I happened to be watching The Talk, when they had their guest Dr. Phil come out to promote his new book “Life Codes.” The first thing they asked him was his opinion on Lindsay Lohan’s recent arrest. First he gives a quick resume of his legal background with the court system and then offers up his two cents. He explains that Lindsay is on probation, or as he likes to call it “sweet poison,” because if she does anything wrong she just bounces back to jail without a trial. He goes on to say that when on probation you have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety or you can get in trouble. That doesn’t seem to apply to Lindsay, as far as I have seen. However, Dr. Phil says, you don’t take a high risk individual (Lindsay) and put them in a high risk situation (Bar at 4 am) and then act surprised when something bad happens. Now here is the part that irritates me: He says it may have been her parents who got her into this situation, but she is an adult now (at 26) and she makes her own decisions and must take responsibility. He adds, “when you choose the behavior, you choose the consequences [she’ll go to jail] and then we will spend about $25,000 a year of taxpayer money for her to look at a wall, I guess.” Very compassionate, wouldn’t you say? Well that’s if nothing worse happens, Dr. Phil.
I’ll explain why all this bothers me. I have heard Dr. Phil say many times that teenagers do not understand the consequences of their behavior. The frontal cortex of the brain, where this understanding takes place, is not fully developed until a person is 25. Now back to Lindsay. It’s true that Lindsay is now 26 years old, however how many years ago did she start “partying,” drinking and doing drugs? There were many reports of her out with her mother, Dina, who we have recently seen on Dr. Phil. The woman is a mess and I would go so far as to say she was an unfit mother. Never mind Lindsay’s loser father who speaks matter of factly about his daughter’s recent arrest and blames it on the city and people, not Lindsay or her parents. Dina has always loved being in the limelight and I get the impression she was living her dream for fame vicariously through her daughter. It’s no surprise that she went partying with her young daughter and that Lindsay was introduced very early to the “partying” lifestyle by dear old mom. This was during her teenage years. I could not find out exactly when it all started because there are thousands of hits for “Lindsay partying” on Google.
So when Dr. Phil says Lindsay is an adult now, that is technically true, but her brain is fried. We don’t know if her frontal cortex had a chance of developing normally while she was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Obviously she hasn’t been thinking clearly and making good choices for a very long time. Dr. Phil, with his impressive resume, should know all this and place much more blame on her parents and getting Lindsay proper help. Where are his resources and offers of help? Lindsay may not have the mental capacity or even be sober enough to decide she needs to go to rehab. Her parents are hopeless. The poor girl has had no parental guidance, instead she was exploited by both parents for the money she was making. So who is going to step in and save this girl’s life before she ends it with an overdose? Before she mixes too much alcohol and too many pills? Before she gets behind the wheel of a car and kills herself or others? Who? Dr. Phil? Dr. Drew? Her lawyers? The legal system who lets her out of jail in 15 minutes every time she is arrested?
When she kills herself will everyone be crying and saying she was so young? Will they be wringing their hands saying if only we had done something? When will those closest to her wake the hell up! It’s as predictable as Michael Jackson’s early death.
I just read this morning that Lindsay is out of jail again. Great. And everyone is failing her again. She is just a hot topic of conversation for all the talk shows and tabloids. But when the hell is someone going to step in and actually do something before her story ends in tragedy? Maybe I should send this blog off to Dr. Phil. Maybe he can do a show with Lindsay during February sweeps, if she lasts that long.
I think it’s so sad that this once very talented 26 year old girl is being left to her own devices when it’s clear she is headed for a tragic end. Maybe all these incidents are a cry for help and no one is answering. I just can’t be the only one who sees this, and my resume is not close to being as impressive as Dr. Phil’s.
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