Season 16, Episode 7
Diana
Age: 29
Location: Beuna Park, California
Addiction: Alcohol
What’s Memorable: Ken knocked this one out of the park. He developed a strategy for getting her to say yes based on what he knew about the family dynamics, and it worked. He knew exactly what she needed to hear. Well done Ken.
Official Synopsis: In three years, Diana’s alcoholism has gotten so bad that it has led her to being diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, an alcohol-related brain disorder, which recently landed her in the hospital with temporary paralysis and a feeding tube… which she poured vodka into! Diana’s addiction has destroyed her career, her relationships, and now her health. Her parents know that if she doesn’t get help now, she won’t live to celebrate her 30th birthday. Ken Seeley is Diana’s Interventionist.
Date Aired: Jan 2017
Interventionist: Ken
Here is her LinkedIn profile. It seems like she’s doing well.https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-herrick-16029623?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app
I am a 49-year-old mother… I am also a recovering addict… I have a 15-year-old daughter who started drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana when she was only 14, but with the boundaries I gave her and with the independence of being a teenager, she decided on her own to change her life around and wants to be a drug and alcohol counselor! I could have control of her into making a decision. She quit drugs and alcohol coma, but probably would have lead to even more drug and alcohol use. I have seen so many people who are smothered by their parents and not giving any independence, and it usually leads to alcoholism and drug addiction, when they finally leave home in their college years. It’s a fine line between being controlling and letting your kids have too much freedom… but you need to give your teens freedom with boundaries and with the tools that you’ve given them to make educated and smart choices!! it’s hard being a parent! It’s hard being a teen!!
But I do want to say we do not know the whole story… Her parents may have been controlling, but they may have also been trying to help their daughter who has an addict and has a serious fatal medical issue. We really can’t blame anyone here… We just don’t know enough of the story! I just wish her parents would have gotten the help that was offered by intervention…that I don’t understand!
I see current comments on Diana’s political beliefs and while i don’t really want to stir the pot since it’s been like 6 years now, I have noticed a lot of addicts or former addicts partake in anti-masking and anti-vaccine rhetoric. You have Diana, you have Aaron Carter, that one dude on here who’s son ended up shooting up people on the west coast, etc. But overall I think the root of it is insecurity and a feeling that they lack control over their body and life, which sadly overshadows the other parts of potentially protecting others. And to some extent, I get it. You turn to cope with your problems with drugs you put inside you. It disappoints me a bit being where i am politically, there’s a level of grace we should still give her.
I think narcissism plays a role too, as many addicts medicate due to their ego, and it manifest itself politically. Notice also how many become extremely religious as well. I gotta say as someone who’s suffered from mental illness my whole life it’s been one of the strongest motivating factors to never touch hard drugs.
This episode has always resonated with me perhaps the most out of any other intervention episode. I see a lot of parallels from what I went through similar to what Diana went through. Although she had it much worse than me, I can still relate. I came from controlling and very Christian family – however, I wasn’t the only child, so I never got the level of attention and control that Diana did. I was more lost in the mix and dealing with things on my own. I was molested as a child by a family member when I was a preteen several times. Because of how we were raised, I never was able to tell my parents about it. I finally ended up telling my mom and my sister about it when I was 19, and neither of them believed me. When I was old enough to drink, I just absolutely loved it – just such a blissful release and it finally made me feel so good about myself and not anxious or depressed (so I thought at the time). A lot of my behaviors were similar to Diana that we saw in this episode – listening to music drinking alone in your room, miserable – walking even though you’re hardly able to walk and stumbling the streets. Just terrible. I never had the health issues that Diana had, but I still definitely abused alcohol. I ended up trying to commit suicide when I was in my early twenties when I was very drunk. My parents ended up kicking me out of the house. I’ve still dealt with problems with alcohol, mostly binge drinking (but still a problem) since then. Whenever I rewatch this episode, it again resonates with me so much and inspires me to continue to get better and do better.
Sorry for sharing my story, but if anyone out there is struggling I hope things get better soon. Life can be so hard, but you can get through this!! Hang in there <3
Hey Diana!
I’m not sure if you read these comments but I’m a new fan of this show and just watched your episode. I’m 35 I’m guessing we are around the same age. I struggle with alcohol too and my Mother was very controlling as well, she controlled everything and my Dad always backed her up.
I remember you singing in the episode “Day drunk into the night” it’s all about the Tove Lo!! Lol I love her too.
I hope you’re doing well and just wanted to send ya some love from Canada. It was brave of you to put yourself out there and you made feel less alone. Xo
Britt
P.s you’re a beautiful person! Outside (obviously you’re gorgeous) but also on the inside. Your friend Christie was cool too, I wish I had a Christie that cared about me that much
You know it’s really annoying that people have to bring her political beliefs into this. So what if she’s a trump supporter. I may not be a Trump supporter myself but I’m certainly not going to judge her based off of her OWN political beliefs because that’s just dumb and unfair. It’s also funny how some people seem to change their support or ideas about her because she is a trump supporter. Like do you only support the addicts who think the same way as you do and the rest don’t matter? Honestly if y’all are really gonna judge based off of her political beliefs, that just shows how immature you really are and honestly your sad. Also Diana if your reading this I hope your doing well and I wish you all the luck .❤️
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH CORINA. I 100000% agree. It’s disgusting to see people recognize her parents’ control over her was a huge addiction trigger, and then turn around on their support for her and her sobriety when they find out they can’t control her political opinions. Healthy people secure in their own beliefs do not feel this need, this archaic belief that “well the more people agree with me, the more I am correct”. If you feel the need to blame, shame, and wish ill upon people who disagree with you politically, you need to reevaluate your own positions. Or just go back to Reddit. Actually yeah, just go back to Reddit full-stop. There, you can collect upvotes and popularity.