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An Open Letter to Charlie Sheen

Dear Charlie,
I have read some articles about you and watched some of your interviews. You have every right to do what you want within the bounds of what is legal, moral and ethical. However, I want to present some ideas for your consideration. With your permission, I will explain a few ideas that may or may not figure into the choices you make moving forward.
The part of the brain in humans that thinks things through, moderates moods and remembers is in prefrontal cortex (the forehead area). It is the reason that while a person may see food at a neighboring table at a restaurant that looks good, he doesn’t reach over and grab it off a stranger’s plate, while a dog might. Dogs feel first, then act. Humans will feel, think about it, then act. Humans have a part of their brain that, when healthy and working well, controls impulsive behaviors. This is why drug and alcohol use is associated with decreased inhibition.
I relate brain health to bone health. If a person went skiing, broke their leg and needed a cast, they might want to ski again right way, but the leg might need five to six months to heal properly. If he went and skied on the injured leg after only three weeks, there is a good chance skiing on it might interfere with the leg’s healing properly, re-injure the leg and starting a cycle.
Alcohol and drug usage impact many parts of the body, including the pre-frontal cortex. So, instead of thinking things through, a person may become impulsive. Instead of having a fairly even mood, a person may experience mood swings and getting upset easily. Instead of remembering the trouble that happens when drinking alcohol or using drugs, the person forgets. Here is the rub: In the moment, everything that person is doing seems okay to him, from the point of view of his injured pre-frontal cortex. It is only when he gets clean (substances out of the body) and sober (starts to feel some sense of inner peace and sense of honor) that he looks back and may say, “That wasn’t me,” or, “That is not who I want to be.”
What I am asking you to consider is the possibility that your brain may have an injury that is hard to see right now. Mainstream thought is that it takes a minimum of nine to 12 months for the initial brain inflammation to settle down after drug and alcohol usage stops. Some other thoughts are that it takes three to five years for the brain to heal. A book you might enjoy on the subject is “The Brain That Changes Itself,” by Norman Doidge, M.D.
The problem with healing the brain from alcohol and drug use is similar to a person trying to heal a broken leg when he walks on it every day. The leg never gets a chance to heal.

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