Prescription Drug Abuse Interventions: Focus on Elvis Presley
Alenka Ferrel, Jessica Garoutte, & Cristina Rainwater
PSY 480
March 5, 2012
Dr. Tara Thompson

Prescription Drug Abuse Interventions: Focus on Elvis Presley
Prescription drug abuse is not currently classified by the DSM-IV-TR, for it focuses on a pattern of drug abuse which bypasses personality patterns and focuses on common characteristics between clients, rather than a specific drug (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Prescription drug abuse is a wide-spread and exceedingly common problem in present day America. This essay will examine the case study of cultural icon Elvis Presley and his struggle with prescription drugs which eventually took his life. Biological, psychological, and social factors which contributed to his addiction will be examined, as well as interventions which may have been helpful had they been available or had Elvis decided to seek help. The examination of the case study, along with the contributing factors and possible interventions, should be considered for anyone going through problems with similar addictions.
The Case of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley was one of the most well-known and famous individual’s of all time. After his death, Elvis was made into a cultural icon and coined the “King of Rock n’ Roll.” However, fame and fortune did not lead him down a productive and positive life path, but rather to a life of depression, alienation, and prescription drug addiction. Elvis passed away in a bathroom, presumably due to a drug overdose, in 1977 at the age of 42 (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009).
On January 8, 1935, after the still birth of his twin brother, Elvis was born the only child of Gladys and Vernon Presley. Vernon ran into some trouble with the law and spent a few years in prison when Elvis was young. Consequently, Elvis and his father had a very distant relationship. On the other hand, Gladys was overly concerned and protective of her only son. Elvis and his mother were very close, possibly unhealthily so. Besides the fact that his family was very poor and moved around a lot, Elvis had a pretty normal childhood. After graduating high school in 1945 Elvis’s music career began to take off. However, a turning point in his personal life which would eventually affect his music career, came in 1958 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. When he called to speak with his mother she refused to talk to him and for the first time in his life, Elvis felt completely alone. Gladys became constantly depressed and turned to heavy drinking until in 1958 she passed away from hepatitis. This began a period of isolation for Elvis. After leaving the army in 1960, Elvis began to distance himself from his fans and the rest of the world. In 1968, he married Priscilla Beaulieu and nine months later they had their daughter Lisa Marie. Elvis continued his bad habits of sleeping throughout the day and partying all night. His dependence on prescription drugs grew and grew. After Priscilla filed fro divorce in 1973, Elvis’s condition worsened. He gained a large amount of weight and began seriously abusing prescription pills. He would complain of toothaches for pain pills, go to multiple doctors, and get drugs illegally from friends around the country. He was irrational, depressed, sweated profusely, often seemed confused, and had instances of excessive spending. His drugs of choice included codeine, morphine, valium, Quaaludes, and Demerol. He even studied medical references to make sure his “drug cocktails” would not end up deadly combinations. Though they tried to say Elvis passed away of heart failure, traces of Codeine, steroids, Valium, Demerol, Ethchlovynol, Amobarbital, Phenobarbital, and Quaaludes were all found in his system (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009).

Biological Factors
Elvis Presley suffered from many affections or illness. The most popular version of his death states that Elvis Presley died of a heart attack, according to his personal physician Dr. Goerge C. Nichopoulus he suffered from arrhythmia, hypertension, pneumonia, and enlarged colon (Washington Post, 1977), glaucoma, a slightly deformed leg (Meyer, Chapman, Weaver, 2009). Other authors debated about the reasons of his death and other affections his life struggled with. In May of 2010 Dr Goerge C. Nichopoulos claimed that Elvis Presley didn’t die due to a prescribed drug abuse but due to a chronic constipation. According to Elvis physician, after an exhaustive autopsy he found out that Elvis had instead of a colon of 4 to 5 feet long he had 8 to 9 feet long colon. Also he said that the reason of his overweight was caused by this colon problem. His constipation problem had caused him too much pain and discomfort all his life. In the same article the physician stated that Elvis Presley had died due to a chronic constipation because they had found stool that had been in his colon for about 5 to 6 months. At the time of his death, several doctors testified in court the reason of his death was not an overdose of prescribed drugs but the fact that Elvis Presley abused of prescribed drugs was a fact. Within the list of prescribed drugs they found in the autopsy was codeine, steroids, valium (sleep pills), ethclorivinol (a sedative/ hypnotic), Demerol, Amobarbital (a short- acting barbiturate used to help bring on sleep), Phenobarbital (a sedative/ hypnotic), Methaqualone (Quaaludes- there was a high amount of this drug found in the tissue) (Meyer, Chapman, Weaver, 2009). After analyzing Elvis life and the biological factors we can conclude that Elvis’ drug abuse could be a mere need of keeping his numerous health problems under the control of uncontrolled drug abuse.

Psychological Factors.
Elvis Presley was called several times by the media as a “mommas’ boy”. His mom was a very important character in his life to the point that when she died he got completely depressed and he confined himself to a long period of isolation. His childhood was not that good at all, father had problems with the Law and was in prison for 4 years, reason why Elvis was distant to his father since then. People used to say of Elvis that eh was a lonely boy; he used to be alone all the time. His mother was very overprotective with him since Elvis twin brother stillborn. According to Meyer, Chapman & Weaver (2009) Elvis had destructive personal habits, and manifested them in his drug abuse. After his mother died he got married to Priscilla Beaulieu. Elvis and Priscilla had a baby girl on their own called Lisa Marie but by the time Elvis was an emotionally drained man (Meyer, Chapman, Weaver, 2009) and started with a pattern of most destructive behavior increasing his poor eating habits, and drug dependency. Consequently Priscilla filed for divorce and Elvis turned more alone, and his behavior was marked with a severe depression and very irritably with periods of seclusion.

Social Factors
Since the time of his beginning as a star singer Elvis’s life became so public and under continually scrutiny. His solitude became to be not an option because he was always surrounded with many people including his fans and friends who like to be with him during the hours (late night and early morning) he liked to spend at nightclubs. This was the reason why his sleeping schedule became a real problem. He used to go to sleep from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and party from 4:00 pm until early morning hours. When he lost his wife, he also lost the opportunity of being a person with normal life. Once he got divorced he became promiscuous sexually and many close friends felt that after Priscilla left Elvis gave up his life and decided to live in little privacy (Meyer, Chapman, Weaver, 2009).

Conclusion

References

McKay, H. ( May 5, 2010) Elvis Presley's Doctor Claims He Died of an 'Embarrassing' Case of Chronic
Constipation. FoxNews.com .Retrieved from: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/05/05/exclusive-elvis-presleys-doctor-claims-died-embarrassing-case-chronic/#ixzz1oIlXOESL
Meyer, R. G., Chapman, L. K., & Weaver, C. M. (2009). Case studies in abnormal behavior (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education/Allyn & Bacon
Rohter, L., Zito, T. (August 17, 1977) Rock Idol Elvis Presley Dies at 42. Washington Post Staff Writers.
Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/elvis/epobit.htm The Learning Network (August 16, 2011). August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley Dies. The New York Times.
Retrieved from: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/august-16-1977-elvis-presley-dies/?scp=14&sq=elvis%20presley%20cause%20of%20death&st=cse