Charlie Sheen Hospitalized After Rampage: Drug Allergy - or Drug Abuse?

(CBS/AP) So much for rehab. After repeated stints in substance abuse and anger-management programs, actor Charlie Sheen broke furniture, damaged a chandelier, and otherwise trashed his suite at New York's Plaza Hotel early Tuesday morning, police say.

His publicist blamed the incident on an allergic reaction to medication. But he was naked, drunk, high on coke, and accompanied by a prostitute, the New York Post reported.

The troubled star of the hit TV series "Two and a Half Men" was briefly hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation before jetting back to Los Angeles.

Inpatient facilities for people trying to manage alcohol, drug abuse and personality disorders are expensive - over $10,000 for a 30-day stay would be a low estimate. Sheen has been treated for substance abuse multiple times; has it done him any good?

And why do he and others seem to relapse time and time again?

One problem is that psychiatrists have not worked out the best way to bridge the transition from inpatient rehab programs, where patients are sheltered, to the outside world, Dr. Marc Galanter, director of the division of drug abuse at NYU Langone Medical Center, tells CBS News.

Another problem, he says, is that many psychiatrists lack the training to handle patients newly released from treatment centers.

That's not to let folks like Sheen - whose struggles with alcohol and cocaine abuse are legendary - off the hook, Galanter adds. Overcoming addiction largely depends upon the motivation of the patient.