Famous Addicts

Famous Addicts
Name
Institution
Famous Addicts: Michael Jackson
The death of Michael Jackson (MJ) was rather shocking to most of his fans. He died in 2009 due to an overdose of the anesthetic drug known as Propofol that was administered to him by Dr. Conrad Murray (Pilkington, 2009). However, MJ was not a drug user; as a matter of fact, he was able to stay away from drugs most of his life. There are several elements that put an individual at risk of abusing drugs. Risk factors enhance an individual’s likelihood of substance abuse, whereas protective factors lessen the risk. For MJ, his protective factors included his religion and the fact that growing up he had witnessed many people’s lives be destroyed due to drugs and he promised never to go down that path. However, in 1984, MJ was severely burned during the shooting of a Pepsi advert, and while he recovered from the burns on his face and scalp, sources say that he developed an incapacitating addiction to the painkillers (Blake, 2009). The substance dependency got worse in 1993 where he had another accident during his tour, and later or during his child molestation trials in 2005 he claimed to have severe back pains and needed more painkillers. The pain from his injuries and emotional turmoil of the accusations are some of the risk factors that led to Michael Jackson’s substance abuse. In the DSM-5, Axis depicts “Clinical Symptoms” that bring about major impairment. MJ was diagnosed with Depression, Body Dimorphic illness, and Panic disease.

Axis II is the “Personality and Mental Retardation” this axis illustrates some of the long-term issues significant to personality and development, and in my opinion, I did not find it relevant to Michael Jackson’s problems with drug abuse. Axis III is the medical conditions that impact or degenerate the illnesses in Axis I and II (Hasin et al., 2013). For MJ it was his accidents that made him addicted to painkillers and while he did not suffer any major injuries, the pain was severe for him to handle. Axis IV deals with the environmental and psychosocial issues that may influence Axis I and II. For MJ it includes the emotional turmoil during his trials on the child molestation cases and loss of his childhood due to an early music career.

References
Hasin, D. S., O’Brien, C. P., Auriacombe, M., Borges, G., Bucholz, K., Budney, A., … & Schuckit, M. (2013). DSM-5 criteria for substance use disorders: recommendations and rationale. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(8), 834-851.
Blake, H. (2009, Jun. 26) Michael Jackson’s history of health problems. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5650170/Michael-Jacksons-history-of-health-problems.html.
Pilkington, E. (2009, Jul. 31) Abuse of drug used by Michael Jackson growing among medical professionals. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/31/michael-jackson-propofol-drug-diprivan.