Season 4, Episode 19
Allison
Age: Mid-20’s
Location: Newport, Rhode Island
Addiction: Inhalants (computer duster)
What’s Memorable: This one comes in 2nd as the most famous episode (after Cristy (Season 2), mostly due to the “I’m walkin on sunshine!” soundbite. 10 cans of duster a day is completely insane and she’s just out of it. I think what’s most shocking about this episode is that she survived this addiction.
Update: Allison continues to do really well in recovery. You can follow her on Twitter here. She’s an inspiration.
Legacy Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-jp3bgyUCo
Official synopsis: She was a pre-med student on her way to becoming a surgeon, but the trauma of being molested as a child and her parents’ brutal divorce haunted Allison. She started to inhale computer dust remover, which is potentially fatal with each breath. Her erratic behavior and absence from classes got Allison dropped from the pre-med program. Allison is currently inhaling up to ten cans of dust remover a day. Can interventionist Jeff help Allison and her family?
Original Air Date: August 2008
Interventionist: Jeff
I was worried about Allison for a minute there are she deleted her Instagram. But I see that her LinkedIn is active so now I’m hopeful. Allison is an amazing person, and I am always wishing the best for her!
I’m rewatching her episode right now and I’m upset with her mom. Kids (especially around 5 or younger) don’t just throw accusations like molestation around because they shouldn’t be aware of it, and if they are it should only be for prevention. Obviously the mom never taught her kids what to do in a situation like that and was not equipped to handle it herself either.
I’m not trying to accuse her of being a horrible parent because I do not know her personally and I’m sure the news struck her hard. But when she said “if you told the truth it all would have worked out” – who the hell are you? Those are your children that have just went through a major traumatic experience, and they needed you. They were intimidated by their abuser + the courts because it’s a big thing they’ve never been through before. I’ve taken child psychology as part of a course, and I will tell you kids do not know what to do in scary situations like that. When you put them in the same room as the person who hurt them and ask if said person hurt them, they’re more likely to deny out of fear even if their claims are true. These kids told her, and she didn’t believe them, then sounded disgruntled when she talked about how they began telling their other family members. What does she expect to happen?
Again, most kids don’t make this up, and most of them are even taught to speak up until someone believes them. And the way she was telling Allison “I want my daughter back. I want my daughter back” with that condescending tone/look on her face, the constant crying about how “it’s so hard”…I’m sure it is (or was, really), but it was harder for Allison and her sister to go through that and not be believed by the person who’s supposed to believe them most. I can’t really blame Allison when she says “I don’t care for half of the people in this room” and points to her mom – she felt her mom didn’t care for her.
But if anything this proves how much of a warrior princess Allison is. She’s been put down so many times, and she bounced right back. From what I’ve been seeing, she’s been up in the air ever since – and by that I mean she’s bounced back so hard she never came back down! She’s amazing, intelligent, and has a lot going for her. I hope her life is much more fulfilling and joyful now.
im watching this ep and the follow-up ep and i just gotta ask…
am i the only one who gets the worst vibes from her mother? like she’s comes home to make amends and the moment they’re in the house she says “do something about these cats or im getting rid of them”. i get that she’s not allowed to have them but her daughter was still fresh in her recovery and didn’t have a place to bring the cats yet. the cats she really loves and cares about. that whole situation rubbed me the wrong way completely.
also the scene where the cops have to detain her also rubbed me the wrong way. maybe it’s from my own trauma of being in a mental health crisis and the police officer tried to break my arm and threatened me. i just absolutely don’t believe the the police are helpful in a mental health crisis bc they aren’t trained to be. so i felt the cops were unnecessary but like i said, that’s just me.
if i were her, i’d cut my family off and continue my recovery without them.
Yes to both points. Thank God her sister was there to comfort her when she was tackled by the police.
OMG yes! The police tackling her gave me an anxiety attack. That was chilling and made me feel horrible for her.
I use this story as a lesson in my Psychology courses. The amount of learning opportunities in this episode is immense. Students are always deeply impacted by her story. I strive to use this as a cautionary and informational tale about addiction. Allison is extremely intelligent, loaded with potential. She didn’t process her traumas in a healthy way (most of which can be attributed to her family’s decisions). I am under the impression that she is doing well? Does anyone have a current update?
I would recommend stopping that. She requested for people to stop using her story for educational purposes on her Twitter account.
I will never get over the way she crawled on those cops like a spider monkey
Someone mentioned on the comments that she claims she’s an agoraphobic. she probably is. I was and agoraphobic and so was my sister for many years. We both suffer from OCD. Agoraphobia is a serious mental illness. What she needs is to go on disability for her mental illnesses until she can get on the right medication. She mentions that she can’t afford her medications or doctor appointments, but if she’s on Medi-Cal it pays for both. If she doesn’t want to go on disability she can still apply for Medi-Cal and should be approved as she’s not working and doesn’t have an income. This will help her to pay rent but she’ll probably have to move to a cheaper apartment. I wish her well, please Allison if you read this there are resources in California and it doesn’t take long to get Medi-Cal, disability takes a while but you get back payments for all the years since you applied. If you moved out of California there still are Medicaid resources and Federal disability if you don’t have a state disability, but I looks like you’re still in California. I am from California so I know all about the resources here. Please Allison look into these resources and I wish you a life full of health, peace, love, acceptance, and happiness! You can achieve this if you reach out to resources and are able to get on the right medication‘s, you can do this you did so much with your education and that takes a lot to accomplish! ❤️🙏🏼
All – she was arrested for assultt with a deadly weapon!!! https://www.localcrimenews.com/welcome/detail/76293241/allison-fogarty-arrest.html
Allison even if you were arrested I don’t care, I love you and think you’re hilarious and smart and beautiful and INTERESTING, most people bore me.
Stay strong