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abraxas
Fourth Love
USA
216 Posts |
 Posted - 01/03/2013 : 19:04:56
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I just had a question about Bryan's alcoholism. I don't think it's really talked about that much on the boards here, but it did occur during his time with the Byrds, Love, and post-Love which he did off and on when went back and forth from a ministry doing Christian songs. Why did it take all the way until the mid 1990s to get into rehab, when he could've been sober and make a comeback in the late 1970s/80s with Rhino? He could've succesful doing Broadway scores or producing his step-sister's music. But I'm not sure his bi-polar(this is confirmed by his mother in an interview a few years back) had contributed to his constant relapses. I'm not insulting Bryan Maclean in any way, but just commenting on his life and what he had done. I'm not slandering his name by mentioning alcoholism, because it's known that he had suffered since the 1960s all the way to the mid 1990s witl alcoholism alongside his bipolar personality. So I don't want anyone to bash for anything.
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2013 : 19:52:35
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scully
Fourth Love
United Kingdom
217 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2013 : 23:16:12
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| Addiction is never simple nor does any kind of rationality apply to people who are addicted. 'Getting in to rehab' is not the problem, getting clean and sober is not the problem. The problem is staying that way, and it takes (often a long) time before people are ready to get there. |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2013 : 16:40:32
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2013 : 18:35:45
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In those days (and even today) alcohol was the drug of choice for a bi-polar personality. It leveled it off. Drugs were pretty unreliable or just plain dangerous, and many were diagnosed as merely alcoholics, with doctors unable or unwilling to see past the addiction to the root cause.
Brian likely didn't know he may have been bi-polar. He just thought he had a problem and likely blamed it on his own "weakness"....an endless cycle. Blame-guilt-booze.
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
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abraxas
Fourth Love
USA
216 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2013 : 07:19:50
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I'm not sure when Brian was given lithium in the 1970s if it made his alcoholism worse or not alongside his bi polar state. His mother said in a recent interview a few years back that he was given lithium but it didn't help that much.
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2013 : 20:29:48
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quote:
Originally posted by abraxas
I'm not sure when Brian was given lithium in the 1970s if it made his alcoholism worse or not alongside his bi polar state. His mother said in a recent interview a few years back that he was given lithium but it didn't help that much.
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile
Right. Not much of a science then. And the drugs wee many times more damaging than helpful.
Kind of like prescribing drugs to an excitable child (and calling it ADHD/ADD). The numbing of America. Hell, they are drugging the creativity out of the kids, just to control them and not "disrupt" the class. Oooo, that one is acting up, drug him!
Well. sorry, my pet peeve.
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2013 : 15:36:31
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Addiction is never simple nor does any kind of rationality apply to people who are addicted. 'Getting in to rehab' is not the problem, getting clean and sober is not the problem. The problem is staying that way, and it takes (often a long) time before people are ready to get there.
You know the above brings me not only to those who have a 'problem' but also the ones who are responsible for trying to help the one with the problem. Now perhaps it's simply my perspective but of what I've seen in in these type of situations I question how the mental health field is taking care of those who have deep personal issues and take medication for it. It's my impression that the drugs are the biggest thing in the therapy yet the families sometimes just don't get the support they need when things come to a head. For me there are always two sides to these stories. Who knows what calcs went through Brian's head when he was dealing with his problems? One thing we absolutely know is that he found something outside of himself which no doubt helped him and that was finding a place next to God. |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2013 : 16:42:29
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quote:
Originally posted by rocker
Addiction is never simple nor does any kind of rationality apply to people who are addicted. 'Getting in to rehab' is not the problem, getting clean and sober is not the problem. The problem is staying that way, and it takes (often a long) time before people are ready to get there.
You know the above brings me not only to those who have a 'problem' but also the ones who are responsible for trying to help the one with the problem. Now perhaps it's simply my perspective but of what I've seen in in these type of situations I question how the mental health field is taking care of those who have deep personal issues and take medication for it. It's my impression that the drugs are the biggest thing in the therapy yet the families sometimes just don't get the support they need when things come to a head. For me there are always two sides to these stories. Who knows what calcs went through Brian's head when he was dealing with his problems? One thing we absolutely know is that he found something outside of himself which no doubt helped him and that was finding a place next to God.
Right...a great example is drawn in "Silver Linings Playbook" and the main role family and friends' support always play. Meds alone will always fail without support.
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 04/03/2013 16:43:31 |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2013 : 15:21:40
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| hmmm..that movie....A few people noted to me that I HAVE TO to see it. Seems like it has struck a chord w people, eh? |
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abraxas
Fourth Love
USA
216 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2013 : 04:30:54
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Well, Bryan's mom was the one that got him into Victory Outreach, that Christan-based rehab in '95 or '96, that got him off the drink. So there should be some credit given to her.
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2013 : 22:58:32
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A miracle that Bryan stayed alive so wrong (to 52, sigh)
The way hes talked about Love it seems that more success would've killed him |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 13/03/2013 : 15:39:48
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| You know I got the impression that music success was just part of what he wanted to accomplish before he died. There were other goals he wanted that sadly he felt he never achieved like having a family. I know his faith no doubt helped him through it all. He has a line which I have to say is stunning. He said, "Faith is the literal magnetic force of heaven'. I can relate to that. Bryan appears to be a man I should have known. He thought very deeply about things and I admire him for that. And he also gave us alot of himself through his fine work. Man, he should've worked with Stephen Sondheim. I figure the byline, 'Maclean and Sondheim' would follow 'Lerner and Lowe' and 'Rodgers and Hammerstein'..I thought that would have been rather a good partnership musically... |
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captain america and billy
Old Love
907 Posts |
Posted - 13/03/2013 : 16:26:46
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| There has existed in many a great artisan some innate inherent sense of lonliness and abandonment which many have translated into lifelong battles with various substances.This has been extrememly true not only in rock,but quite abundantly in the literary fields.(Poe,Hemmingway,F.Scott Fitzgerald,etc.).Somehow in these cases,there is an issue so scarringly stirring inside,even widespread public adulation for their works cannot suppress these primal pains. |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 13/03/2013 : 18:00:49
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...there is an issue so scarringly stirring inside,even widespread public adulation for their works cannot suppress these primal pains.
If you can take a listen to his 'We'll be Together Again". I think it's there that you get a glimpse of that pain yet he manages to look ahead somehow. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
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Bryan's alcoholism
