You will meet with therapists, counselors, and medical specialists who develop a tailored treatment plan. As the stress of touring and acting increased, she started taking Adderall to help her keep up. Demi is “grateful” for those “reminders” and needed a lot of emotional therapy to help with recovery. "Demi is awake and with family who want to express thanks to everyone for the love, prayers and support. Some of the information being reported is incorrect and they respectfully ask for privacy," Demi's rep shared in a statement to TMZ. Demi said that realization has fueled and pushed them to do even more with their life.

"I'm just like, 'Do I call 911?' What do I do? So I called," Jordan recalls. "I just remember sneaking downstairs to make the phone call because I didn't want to get in trouble for calling 911." She goes on to reveal she was told by someone to request "no sirens" when the ambulance arrived. And it was on a trip to Bali that she realized she had become "physically dependent" on heroin, which lead her to write her 2018 hit single "Sober."

Those with mental health disorders are much more likely to develop a substance use disorder than the general population. One study found that among those with bipolar disorder, 61% had history of a drug or alcohol use disorder. Among those with schizophrenia, 47% have a serious problem with drugs or alcohol.

• For example, he said early in recovery, a person may be ambivalent about remaining abstinent.
• Like many people struggling with addiction, she escaped in the form of drugs and alcohol.
• Lovato’s father was also reportedly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
• The majority of opioid-related overdoses actually involve more than one drug—and some combinations can be particularly dangerous.

She combined the meth with use of weed, alcohol, Oxycontin, and cocaine. Just two weeks later she introduced heroin and crack cocaine to her use rotation. Hails from Maine and does extensive work in the field of behavioral health as both a professional writer and passionate advocate for those suffering. From his own personal encounters with mental illness, he speaks to those seeking healthy relief from depression and anxiety and embraces wellness both personally and professionally.

In outpatient treatment, patients can resume their normal schedule and responsibilities while receiving treatment on a daily basis. On the other hand, inpatient treatment facilities require patients to live within the facility until they have successfully completed treatment. Appearance on the beloved children’s show “Barney how to quit drinking or at least cut back and Friends.” While their fun-loving and bubbly character on television was heartwarming and endearing, life outside of the show was quite the opposite. In her younger years, Demi was constantly taunted by and bullied at school. Their fellow classmates called her terrible names, even going as far as calling them fat.

Does Our Past Cause Addiction?

Due to these drastic effects on her body, it was later suspected that instead of ingesting heroin, her dealer provider her with Fentanyl instead. Lovato’s overdose left her will some life-changing deficits, including brain damage and blind spots in her vision from the multiple strokes she sustained. Demi reveals the night she ended 6 years of sobriety, she began experimenting with drugs she'd never tried before ... Including meth, and she mixed it with molly, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and oxycontin. Through Lovato’s rise to fame, her family’s history with substance abuse and addiction, suffering multiple traumatic sexual experiences, and her eventual addiction and overdose, it was clear that the right plan for her had not been figured out just yet. In the ’17 documentary, Lovato’s longtime manager Phil McIntyre revealed that this meant a “squeaky clean” public image for her, which began to deteriorate as her fame grew.

Demi was once again caught in a vicious cycle of drinking and abusing cocaine, which only intensified their struggle with bulimia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies. This dangerous binge lasted until the spring of 2012, and after a few months of sobriety, she checked themselves into a sober house. From there, Demi worked hard on her recovery and stayed sober for six years. In Communications from the University of Central Florida and has 6 years of professional writing experience. A passion for writing led her to a career in journalism, and she worked as a news reporter for 3 years, focusing on stories in the healthcare and wellness industry.

Online Therapy

Lovato, the 28-year-old singer, songwriter, actress and budding activist who has been in show business since she was 6 and a household name since her teens, is not just adaptable — she is one of the most resilient pop cultural figures of her time. Despite repeated attempts to get healthy, including checking into a psychiatric ward, Lovato had continued to abuse drugs and alcohol until her management team issued her an ultimatum, forcing her to choose between their continued partnership. This time, however, her team managed to truly help her curb her addictive personality issues, and in January 2013 Lovato had officially begun a sober living lifestyle. Addiction touches the lives of millions around the world, and for Demi, their first indirect encounter with substance abuse came at a very young age.

Patients stable in their recovery may use targeted naltrexone and take the pill only before high-risk situations, such as parties or weddings,” he said. Answers help him determine whether the patient’s relationship with substances is healthy or not. “For some, harm reduction can be one of the steps towards abstinence… can be critical to ensuring that we are taking into account the complex and multifaceted phenomena of substance use,” Lira de la Rosa told Healthline.

The months leading up to her nearly fatal overdose were some of the worst Lovato has ever experienced. Their addiction completely spiraled out of control, and they began to experiment with a whole new class of drugs, including heroin. Lovato’s recreational use of heroin soon turned into a compulsive and physical dependence that they couldn’t shake. In her documentary series on YouTube, Lovato explains that one night they attended a party where she used meth, Molly, cocaine, marijuana, OxyContin, and alcohol all in one night. After a year-long spiral, Demi was admitted into an addiction treatment center for the first time in 2010 to address her problems with self-harm, bulimia, and substance abuse.

Addiction knows no bounds, and there are countless people out there who are fighting the same battle as you are. If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health or substance abuse, we can help. When the news of Demi Lovato’s overdose broke in July 2018, many people thought “not again.” Some questioned, “Why would she do this to herself?

The 28-year-old star's new four-part documentary, which premieres March 23 on YouTube, was never really, supposed to happen. Sure, Demi was originally filming a doc intended to capture her world tour in 2018, but the project was permanently shelved after Demi's near-fatal drug overdose. Lovato confessed how she “felt trapped” into her early 20s and that “relapsing on drugs and alcohol” was her only way of escaping those situations. She can remember a day when she had used cocaine, Xanax, and alcohol and was unsure if she would overdose. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which helped explained the highs and lows she was experiencing.

Addiction Categories

She recognizes in Dancing with the Devil that her fans deserve to know what happened to her the night of her overdose, as well as in the events leading up to it. Most of all, she wants her fans to know that she is only human, too, and that recovery takes time. Get professional help from an online addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp. "I didn't have food in my hotel room, like snacks in the mini bar, because they didn't want me to eat the snacks," Lovato said, sharing that her team later trapped her in her hotel room by barricading the door with furniture. "It was that level of control when it came to my food, which just made my eating disorder worse," she added. According to Variety, at the age of 13, Lovato started experimenting with drugs after being prescribed opiates for injuries she sustained in a car accident.

Aside from their family history with substance abuse and mental health, the pressure they endured as a child star and rising artist truly took a toll on their well-being — changing the trajectory of life for years to come. Renowned musician, Demi Lovato, has long struggled with drug abuse and mental health. Throughout the years, she has been open about her health with fans – her lyrics, her interviews, and the several documentaries she’s released all portray pieces of her recovery journey. In fact, in her six years sober, she became an advocate for mental health and addiction recovery. She became a role model for many people out there who are struggling with depression, eating disorders, and opioid dependence. Children of parents who struggle with addiction are at a higher risk of developing an addiction themselves.

Ketamine has been explored as a treatment for depression and other conditions. This article takes a detailed look at red wine and its health effects. Moderate amounts are very healthy, but too much can have devastating effects. “Some of my patients who use naltrexone can even drink moderately without returning to problematic drinking.

Demi's family and friends weren’t totally aware of substance struggles before the overdose.

She says, "That alone should have killed me." But it didn't, and Demi says weeks later she was introduced to heroin when her dealer didn't have her usual "Coke and Xanax" cocktail for her. Explaining she "longed for" a relationship with Patrick growing up, "I resented him because he was an addict and an alcoholic and he was abusive to my mom." when someone you love goes through drug and alcohol relapse "I'm not willing to put a label on it right this second and I think I will get there," she continues. "But there are a lot of things I have to do for myself first. I want to allow myself the ability to live my life in he most authentic form possible, which I just haven't done because of my past and some things that I've needed to work on."

Life seemed pretty amazing for Demi, but, unfortunately, they were beginning to battle with a large score of demons. As a Disney star, Demi was under a significant amount of pressure to maintain the squeaky-clean life that was required of them. "My mom didn't think she'd have to lock up the opiates from her 13-year-old daughter, but I was already drinking at that point," Lovato explained. "I had been bullied was looking for an escape and when my mom saw how many of the pills had disappeared and how fast they did, she took them away locked them up."

But in the weeks before Lovato's overdose, she was using multiple substances, she said, per ET Online. The night she relapsed, she recalls having a bottle of red wine before experimenting with several drugs she'd never tried before. "I'd never done meth before, I tried meth. I mixed it with molly, with coke, weed, alcohol, OxyContin. And that alone should have killed me," she said. The night she overdosed, Lovato said she took OxyContin that she now believes also contained fentanyl, another synthetic opioid.

Knowledge in healthcare led to an interest in drug and alcohol abuse, and she realized how many people are touched by addiction. In harm reduction, a person uses strategies to manage their substance use and reduce the negative or life threatening signs and symptoms of alcoholism effects from drugs and alcohol. In the documentary, Lovato goes on to say that although she no longer uses some drugs, complete sobriety is not right for her at this moment—and she does still drink and use cannabis in moderation.

With drugs, alcohol, depression, and bulimia combined, she was at an explosive point in her life. Her first time trying it was scary, but she began to love how it made her feel. Pop stardom is a high-wire act on the continuum between fantasy and reality, spectacle and authenticity, escaping and relating. There are the otherworldly untouchables who appear to hover tantalizingly out of reach (Beyoncé, Lady Gaga), and the seemingly fully knowables who feel just an arm’s length away . Demi Lovato revealed they “rarely” think about using drugs anymore after being completely sober for nearly eight months. Demi Lovato said they “rarely” think about using drugs anymore after giving up their “California sober” lifestyle in December 2021.