Rehab counselors upset by Frey's memoir

James Frey's lurid memoir A Million Little Pieces, which landed Oprah Winfrey in continuing controversy over its truthfulness, is under fire now by professionals at the rehab center where Frey allegedly was treated for alcoholism and drug addiction. They came forward, they told The New York Times, because "they feared that Mr. Frey's portrayal of rehabilitation was more likely to scare people away than lead them to seek help."

The Times also said producers of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" were told "by a former counselor at the foundation that runs the Minnesota treatment center reportedly used by Mr. Frey that his portrayal of his experience there grossly distorted reality."

It puts a new light on the controversy. Among other things, The Times reports:

None of the former Hazelden employees who have decided to speak out ever met Mr. Frey during his stay at Hazelden; nor could they talk about it if they had. But each of them said the regulations and procedures at Hazelden were subject to rigorous review by groups of counselors, so that the many breaches of protocol described by Mr. Frey would have been unlikely to go unnoticed.

Carol Colleran, who worked for 17 years in the Hazelden system, including two years at the Minnesota locations, said that unlike Mr. Frey's contention on "Larry King Live" that only about 5 percent of his book is in dispute, "98 percent of that book is false" in its descriptions of how Hazelden works.

Ms. Colleran, now a certified addiction professional in West Palm Beach, Fla., said she sent her complaints about the book to the Winfrey program by e-mail in November. Ms. Colleran also posted questions about the book on Amazon.com that month.

"I have had young people say to me that if they had a child who was having problems, they would never send them to treatment after reading that book," Ms. Colleran said.

A former psychologist at Hazeldon raised the same issue:

"It's hard enough for people to get accurate information about treatment because of all the confidentiality rules," said Mic Hunter, a psychologist who worked for four years at Hazelden-related treatment centers in Minnesota. "So many people have negative feelings about treatment to begin with. Why would anybody want to send anyone to a treatment program where they would be treated like this? He is claiming it is true, but it's not."

One of my problems with Frey is the way he tries to discredit drug and alcohol treatment. Perhaps he got clean and sober on his own. If so, more power to him. But he shouldn't discredit an accepted treatment regimen that works for others, even if it boosts sales of his book.