TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/022089/02208900.007

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 6KB | 98 lines

BEHAVIOR, Page 79

The Struggle of Kitty Dukakis

Her bout with alcohol shows the dangers of cross addiction


    During the presidential campaign, Kitty Dukakis stumped
tirelessly for her husband Michael. But since his loss at the polls
in November, she has kept a low profile, particularly in her home
state. She even failed to put in an appearance when her husband
announced a month ago that he would not seek another term as
Governor of Massachusetts. Last week Michael Dukakis revealed that
his wife was suffering from more than postdefeat blues. He
explained that Kitty had checked into a private clinic in Newport,
R.I., for treatment of an alcohol problem that had surfaced
suddenly after the election. Said the Governor: "A combination of
physical exhaustion, the stress of the campaign effort and
postelection letdown all combined to create a situation in which,
on a limited number of occasions while at home, she has used
alcohol in excessive quantities."

    The announcement shocked friends and reporters, who describe
Kitty as a social drinker who enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner.
But the news came as no surprise to drug-abuse experts. Kitty, 52,
had confessed early in the campaign to a 26-year addiction to
amphetamine diet pills, a reliance she had overcome in 1982.
Increasingly, counselors recognize that dependence on one substance
increases the risk of abusing others.

    This phenomenon is known as cross dependence, or cross
addiction. Researchers estimate that between 40% and 75% of people
in treatment programs are multiple-substance abusers. Sometimes
people mix several drugs at once -- liquor and tranquilizers, for
example, as in former First Lady Betty Ford's case. Others, like
Kitty Dukakis, may slip from one chemical to another. Says
counselor Fred Holmquist of the Hazelden Foundation in Center City,
Minn., where Kitty was treated for amphetamine abuse: "It's like
switching staterooms on the Titanic."

    Why addictive tendencies cluster in some people is still a
mystery. Researchers know that some sufferers have an inherited
physical susceptibility to alcoholism and perhaps to abuse of other
substances as well. There may also be a psychological
vulnerability. Experts dismiss the popular idea that there is a set
of personality traits, say, low self-esteem and a streak of
perfectionism, that puts people on the path to dependency. Explains
Dr. Sheila Blume, director of a treatment program at South Oaks
Hospital in Amityville, N.Y.: "There is no evidence of a single
addictive personality type. You cannot go to a class of junior high
kids and pick out who will become an addict." Nonetheless, addicts
do have a common pattern of behavior. Observes Blume: "They have
translated feelings of distress like `I'm bored' or `I'm lonely'
or `I'm angry' into feelings of `I need a drink' or `a hit' or `a
fix.'"  Tina Tessina, a therapist in Long Beach, Calif., points out
that people with dependencies try to "meet their emotional needs"
with alcohol or drugs.

    Friends and observers agree that her husband's presidential
defeat was an emotionally crushing blow to Kitty. An energetic and
ambitious woman, she had thrived on the demanding schedule, tumult
and attention of the campaign. Sandy Bakalar, a close friend, says,
"Kitty was going 1,000 miles a minute. Then on Nov. 8 it was
suddenly over. It was a terrible loss." Her husband, meanwhile,
handled the loss in his usual stoic fashion. "Kitty had to do the
mourning for both of them," says Richard Gaines, editor of the
Boston Phoenix, who has long reported on the Dukakis family.

    Kitty tried to put together a new life, signing a $175,000 book
contract and registering with a speakers' bureau. She also
traveled, taking a trip to an Arizona spa. And apparently she
drank. Enough to alarm her family and, most important, herself.
Doctors do not believe she has had the time to become heavily
dependent on alcohol, but they say her earlier experience with
amphetamines evidently set off warning bells. "She recognized that
her recovery was a day-to-day thing, and she is an addictive
person," says Paul Costello, her press secretary during the
campaign. She has struggled mightily but unsuccessfully to stop
smoking cigarettes, a habit she picked up as a teenager. On the
hustings Kitty frequently talked about the dangers of drug abuse,
using herself as an example.

    That keen self-awareness should stand her in good stead at
Edgehill Newport, the 12 1/2-acre residential facility where she
is expected to stay for about a month. Patients there are assigned
to one of six 24-bed rehabilitation units. Treatment, which
combines medical and psychological therapy with elements from
Alcoholics Anonymous, includes intense group and peer counseling
designed to break down addicts' denial of their problems. Sessions
with family members are also offered.

    Cross-dependent people as a rule are more difficult to treat
than single-substance abusers. Often they admit to having trouble
with one chemical -- cocaine, for example -- but hide the fact that
they are misusing sleeping pills or alcohol. Says Dr. Roger Meyer
of the Alcohol Research Center at the University of Connecticut in
Farmington: "It's hard to get them focused and to realize that they
need to be talking about total abstinence from all mood-altering
drugs." Kitty Dukakis has understood the message but must translate
it into practice. Said her husband: "As she has now discovered,
whether it comes in a bottle or is solid, if you're chemically
dependent, you're chemically dependent."