Mackenzie Phillips Offers Tips for Recovery

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Actress Mackenzie Phillips joins The Doctors to discuss her battle with addiction and her new book, “Hopeful Healing.”

“There is a solution, there’s a way out of the rabbit hole,” Mackenzie says. She knows firsthand – not only has she survived her own struggle, but “I’ve gone to school so that I could be a counselor and work in treatment and recovery.”

Watch: Mackenzie Phillips on Overcoming Addiction

“Hopeful Healing” lays out what patients and families can expect from the recovery process. Plastic Surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon wonders why we’re seeing a heroin epidemic now. “I’ll tell you why we’re seeing it – because it happened to me,” responds Mackenzie.

She was prescribed opioid medication for back pain (“Granted, I was also in a relapse!” she adds), and when her prescription ended she went into withdrawal. “You might think it’s a really far jump from opioid pain medication to heroin,” she cautions, “but it’s not anymore.”

Mackenzie believes that prescribers have to take some of the responsibility for the epidemic. She now works at Breathe Life Counseling Centers, and most of her young patients start with the contents of the home medicine cabinet.

Watch: The New Heroin Epidemic

Mackenzie shares three tips for recovering addicts:

• Create a recovery routine. Structure your life around recovery-based activities.

• Get into action. Find a support group of like-minded people.

• Don’t be afraid to ask for help. We can’t do this alone.

Urologist Dr. Jennifer Berman adds, “Don’t drink or use one day at a time.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction please call the confidential and free National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP or visit their website.