Sheen Turns to "Prehab"
Amy Winehouse's Grammy-winning song "Rehab" begins, "They tried to make me go to rehab, I said 'No, no, no!" '
But would she have gone to "prehab"?
Prehab is a new word, short for "preventive rehabilitation" -- that's got the celebrity world buzzing. The term was coined as Sheen announced last week he would be entering a treatment facility for pre-emptive care.
Psychotherapist Heide Banks, who helps her clients face addiction issues, said on "The Early Show" the word prehab is just like a mother trying to get her child to eat vegetables -- no matter what you call them or how they're packaged -- you've got your child eating them and that's what matters.
She said, "Whether you're in rehab, prehab, as long as you're getting in to therapy, you're getting in to a therapeutic situation, I'm happy."
But "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith noted that Sheen, star of the CBS series "Two and a Half Men" has been in rehab before, saying, "Can you call it prehab if he had several rounds of rehab to precede your prehab?"
Banks said, "This is sort of like, 'Can you wear a white wedding dress?'"
She added, "The truth of it is, they invented it for insurance reasons. Celebrities are hard to insure, you get on a set. CBS has been great about letting him go into preventative care right now. Maybe he's already using. Who knows? But the point of it is he's there. He's stopped a production."
Smith said there may be some sense to figuring out you have a problem and looking for preventative care before things get worse and a judge orders one into rehab care.
Banks replied, "Addicts are taught something: There are three places to be: You can either be in an institution, rehab, jail, or you're dead. So I think to say there's something before that is excellent."
As for "prehab" care, Banks said care would focus on the line between using and not using, but would likely encounter rehab-like care.
She said, "If you talk to a user, they'll tell you the moment before thinking they're going to use and using, that line is not even an inch. So if at that point they're getting that feeling and they're saying, 'I need to check myself in somewhere,' they're going to probably go through the same process ... They'll be in a group situation, they'll get the treatment they need."
But care, no matter what it's called, is important, Banks said.
"The problem in our country is there's such a stigma about getting help for addiction," she said. "And especially with drug addicts because we look at them -- alcoholics, we say it's a disease -- drug addicts, we're like they should know better, they should take care of themselves."
"But it's all the same stuff," Smith said.
"Yeah," Banks said.
As for Tiger Woods' sex addiction, Banks says the most important thing is what happens next for him.
AP: Tiger Out of Therapy, Playing Golf
"I give credence to anybody getting help," she said. "... Do you stick to it or are your handlers just trying to get to you play golf again? My money is on him. My money is on him that this was something that happened and he's going to take care of himself."