Posts Tagged ‘suicide’

Prescription drug addiction is a growing epidemic. It does not just affect every day people but those who have reached celebrity status as well. So it was with pain as a fan, a mother and a regular human being that I read about the suicide of former child star Dana Plato’s son.

Dana Plato was a talented actress. However, the producers of Different Strokes did not go the route that so many do and fired her for being pregnant. It was then that this writer, who was the same age as Dana Plate, stopped watching the show.

When Dana Plato died, I grieved in the way of a normal fan. I felt sadness and as a mother, my heart went out to her own child. When her death was ruled a suicide by overdose, I felt somewhat aggravated at her for leaving that legacy for her son. Still, I had been taught to not judge others and instead hugged each of my own three children a little tighter that day.

I have never believed in suicide but I have learned that addiction destroys our common sense and our thinking, leading us to do things we never would have considered before being taken over by drugs or alcohol. The fact that she was addicted to prescription drugs is not in question following a forgery for Valium.

We all have things we have to deal with in our lives. If we have an addiction, it can make those situations multiply into catastrophic events whether they are or not. To this day, I can not fathom leaving a legacy of suicide behind for my children to cope with but I have never walked in the shoes of someone such as Dana Plato.

If you have heard of the suicide of Dana Plato’s son this week and you have an addiction, then I urge you to seek rehab. Think about this: what you do affects other people. Suicide affects your loved ones. If you don’t believe me, think about Tyler Lambert. Don’t let his death be just another story. If you have children or loved ones, even if you are a teenager or college student just starting out,, then do yourself and your loved ones a favor. Get help. Spend the summer in rehab and begin a new life for yourself free of addiction.  Suicide is not the answer to the questions you are surely asking yourself if you are addicted to drugs or alcohol. 

Help really and truly is just a phone call away. Don’t leave a legacy of tragedy for your family. Do it for yourself, for them and for the future. For every person who gets help after reading this article, know this: you are stating that you want to break free and if your choice was affected by a certain young man’s suicide, you are showing that young Tyler Lambert did not die in vain.  You could be keeping your own loved ones from a depression-caused suicide by seeking help for your addiction now.