Spear’s has exclusively spoken to one of the doctors at the mental health hospital Hans Rausing has been bailed to, Capio Nightingale
Spear’s has exclusively spoken to one of the doctors at the mental health hospital Hans Rausing has been bailed to, Capio Nightingale.
Dr Andrew Parker, consultant psychiatrist and addictions specialist at Capio Nightingale, says that the wealthy ‘can buffer themselves from the negative consequences for much longer’: they don’t have jobs to lose, they don’t need to hang around on street corners to score drugs, risking arrest, and if they are arrested, they can hire the lawyers to get them out of it.
Dr Parker was talking to editor Josh Spero for a piece on the factors which enable and prolong addiction and prevent its treatment. You can read the piece here. He made it clear that the hospital never comment on patients and he did not mention Mr Rausing’s residence there, which later emerged in court proceedings. Dr Parker has no connection with Hans Rausing himself.
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If they do manage to postpone dealing with their addiction, it’s the worse for them, says Dr Parker: ‘It allows the problem to get deeper and deeper, a psychological and physiological dependency. The substance has hijacked their motivational reward system. It’s taken over their life.’
An important factor in treating wealthy addicts in rehab was making sure that the ‘social mix’ was right – if there is no-one they can relate to, it may be a hindrance to recovery.
He also spoke about the destructive effects of hangers-on who ‘enjoy going out with those wealthy individuals, having everything paid for’ but who were not ‘real friends’, forcing the addict to face their problem.
Alcohol was the most common addiction he treated HNWs for, followed by (and often in combination with) cocaine.
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