As we discussed, Kit Harington entered rehab a few weeks ago, before the last episode of Game of Thrones aired. Personally, I dislike the narrative that Kit fell apart because Game of Thrones was ending – Kit was widely rumored to be quite the drinker for several years now. I’m sure the end of Thrones hit him hard, but to suggest that the “end of an era” vibe was the REASON why Kit’s alcoholism happened is not really how the disease of alcoholism works. But, as I said, I’m sure the end of Thrones contributed to the problem, and it’s good that Kit recognized it and is currently seeking treatment. According to a source close to Kit, he’s proud of his decision to seek help too:
Kit Harington is proud of his decision to get help, as he continues to recover from exhaustion and alcohol use at a luxury rehab retreat in Connecticut. A day after Page Six exclusively broke the news, a source tells us that the “Game of Thrones” star has “nothing but pride for his decision.”
“If seeing Kit get help can help anyone struggling, that’s fantastic. There’s no shame at all to this,” the source added. His wife Rose Leslie, who played Ygritte in the series, is understood to be in the UK.
A friend told us: “The end of ‘GoT’ really hit Kit hard. He realized ‘This is it — this is the end,’ it was something they had all worked so hard on for so many years. He had a moment of, what next? He’s in the clinic predominantly for stress and exhaustion and also alcohol. His wife, Rose, is being extremely supportive. Everyone close to him really wanted him to get some rest. Right now, he just needs peace and quiet.”
Wait, Rose is in the UK? She’s Scottish and her family owns a Scottish castle, so maybe she’s with her family right now. But she and Kit have an apartment in New York, and I sort of assumed that’s where she was right now. It probably doesn’t matter – reportedly, this rehab is “the Rolls Royce” of treatment centers, according to Page Six:
Kit Harington, the “Game of Thrones” star who Page Six exclusively revealed secretly checked into luxury rehab for stress and alcohol use ahead of the show’s finale, is staying at Connecticut mental health retreat Prive Swiss, said a source. The facility, where a 30-day stay costs up to $120,000, offers a private chef, a fitness studio, massages and “is offered to only three clients at a time and includes all one-to-one services with ultra-private luxury accommodations.” The spot, which author Augusten Burroughs has called the “Rolls-Royce of psychiatric treatment centers,” is popular with celebrities and Fortune 500 types.
Selena Gomez was spotted at the center last year and we’re told she completed similar treatment to Harington, who we hear is undergoing “DBT therapy,” nutrition coaching and mindful meditation.
According to a Prive Swiss site: “The goal of DBT is to transform negative thinking patterns and destructive behaviors into positive outcomes,” with key areas of focus including mindfulness, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. Clients also learn distress tolerance, or “how to cope with situations that cause stress and anxiety by reframing their thoughts, implementing self-soothing techniques, and understanding the present moment,” the site says.
Patients like Harington work alongside therapists to set “goals for themselves, incorporate activities they enjoy, and mindfully understand their process of struggle.”
So, detoxing with yoga, a private chef and meditation. Not the worst way to do it, and if you have the resources, why not? Considering I no longer drink, do you think they’d let me in just to be peaceful and eat some good food?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I was thinking the same yesterday – that it was being framed as a reaction to the end of GoT when he seems to have had a problem for a long time. I wish him and rose nothing but the best. The show meant a lot to me and they’re a young couple trying to make it in the public eye.
Yeah he’s behaved like this even before he got the GOT part. He’s talked about getting really drunk and being in fights in his drama school days. There clearly underlying issues that have nothing to do with fame is r success.
DBT is a legitimate form of behavior therapy way beyond yoga and meditation.
Although I’m going through some stuff right now and going to yoga classes is really helping.
I wish anyone struggling with addiction all the best in their efforts.
+1
DBT’s effectiveness has long been established through research studies. It’s based on CBT which is often considered the gold standard for treating anything. DBT’s difference is that there’s more focus on emotional stuff and incorporates/encourages contempletative practices like meditation, yoga, and mindfulness.
Also, there’s been an uptick in research on yoga as both stand-alone and add-on to other therapies and the results are encouraging. So keep it up!
Sure. DBT for alcohol addiction. Lol. Is everybody forgetting the recent story of him cheating on his wife with that Russian model? There were picture and all and yet somehow the UK press was silent. Hmmm? 🤔 could it be that Rose Leslie ‘s aristocratic family shut them down using the special ways and means only known to Royals ?…
Learning new ways to not bang thirsty model types as a coping mechanism for fame is a little known benefit of DBT therapy for celebrities. Ugh. Marsha Linehan must be rolling..
That poor counsellor who has to listen to this douche and keep her eyeballs under control is not being paid enough I’m sure.
DBT is very effective for substance use disorders, It’s work and I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s doing the work. I think your comment was cynical and unkind.
Opinions. We all have them. Thanks for sharing. I am employed in the field of mental health and addiction so thanks for the Wikipedia info. DBT therapy is widely used in treatment of personalities disorders in particular Borderline Personality disorder. Alcohol abuse may be adjunct or symptom of the other.
Alcoholism in the typical sense of a person who can’t go a day without drinking would not really be treated using DBT, yoga and good eating. These are complimentary therapies that have their place but are not ‘best practices ‘ in the current market. But yay. Rich white ppl doing their thang. Best of luck KH with not squandering your white privilege. Don’t f**k it
Up.
@Krakken I work at the largest non-profit behavioral health/substance use services organization in the US. I develop research-based clinical models, most recently for our Integrated Addictions Care and clinical pathways for specific issues such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, etc. Right now I’m working on a program for employers to use as an alternative to firing people who had positive drug tests that funnels them into treatment while keeping their jobs. I’m considered a “subject matter expert” by SAMHSA on substance use disorders. I’ve been asked by members of congress for white papers on approaches to the opioid epidemic. Those are my bona fides. As part of my work, I also did a survey of what therapies were provided by Medicaid funded “rehabs” across the US. DBT was used in an overwhelming number of them, along with CBT, Motivational Interviewing, and other evidence-based practices. I’m not giving my opinion, I am giving facts based on research and our own practice outcomes. You are misinformed that DBT is primarily used for personality disorders. Also…”alcoholism” is an outdated term. The correct term is “alcohol use disorder,” a subset of substance use disorders in the DSM.
@Krakken you work in mental health? are you a receptionist? the janitor? an intern? i can’t imagine a person so petty, cruel and lacking empathy for people struggling with addiction would or should be treating people. you should consider a new career b/c if you really work in the field – your cynicism is dangerous.
@Krakken, the “best practices” in the market for treating alcohol addiction have been criticized for their effectiveness for a few decades now. IIRC, most rehab centers, even now, don’t treat alcohol addiction (or any type of substance abuse) as a public health issue or a disease in its own right. It’s still widely seen as a personal failing, and change in this regard has been slow, even as this approach has been shown to be less effective than first thought.
There’s a larger point to be made about addiction, privilege, and who gets access to what type of care. I don’t have a lot of respect for ritzy rehab facilities that cater exclusively to celebrities and the rich people who can afford them. There’s always been a huge double standard in how society chooses to treat white people with substance use disorders vs. literally anyone else in America. Kit Harington is no exception to that. But let’s save our disdain for the systems at work here without knocking any available treatment options.
@KarenG I am so curious about who you are, not to be creepy. I worked for a SA treatment and prevention nonprofit organization for 7 1/2 years. The first 3 1/2 years were spent managing the SAMHSA DFC program and I went on several CADCA trips all over the US for training. I bet I am familiar with your work. One year, after leaving this organization, I was a SAMHSA grant reviewer.
The last half of my time at this organization was as the Development Director, and my primary focus was raising $5 million to construct a new residential rehab facility that included residential detox for the indigent, uninsured, low-income population. Detox for this population has been a critical gap in the continuum for care in our region. I now own a nonprofit consulting business, and our primary focus is grant writing.
wow.
I highly doubt that Rose’s bankrupt father has any pull with the media. If it was anyone shutting it down, it was HBO.
What does Kit cheating on his wife has to do with him seeking help for his addiction?
Give me a break. Having been through DBT, it is several steps beyond CBT. CBT can actually cause problems by focusing on your needs and are they being met. While this is important, it too often ends up with people focusing entirely on themselves and completely ignoring the fact that the other people in their lives have needs as well. DBT is a group program where you are taught healthy boundaries, recognizing that you are interacting with people who have boundaries of their own. If getting your needs met means hurting the people around you, they will leave you eventually, and rightfully so.
So DBT is expressly about how banging Russian hookers is an extremely fucked up thing to do, and because it will drive the people around you away, a form of self-harm. The yoga and mediation is about learning how to meet your own needs so that you are not driven to self-harming behavior (drugs, alcohol, sexual acting out, abusive behavior towards others). DBT has 4 steps. You don’t start looking into any sort of why you are doing the harmful things you are doing in step 1. It is all about the here and now, healthy boundaries for you and recognizing and respecting other people’s boundaries as well. I’m sure that is the program Kit is in. He is lucky to be getting 30 days, I only got two weeks. For most people, step 1 is all they need for healthy functioning. If not, you go back into step 1, and when you are no longer self harming or hurting others, you begin to go through the other steps to look towards the past.
Considering the fact that the current state of addiction treatment in the US is abysmal, held up by antiquated notions of willpower, I’m not surprised that you are in the mental health field. No one needs to bottom out before getting better. Willpower is an illusion sold by people who want to shame and control others. Being forced to deal the emotional consequences of past abuse where you are not personally safe is a form of further abuse. Pretending that medication which can give someone a functioning life is “just another form of addiction” is a form of further abuse.
Please rethink your life.
DBT has its drawbacks also. I have no doubt that it’s really effective for a large number of people, but it’s got its own set of pitfalls and I’ve met more than a few people who have dealt with them. I’ve also met a lot of people who its helped a great deal. I don’t think it’s wholly correct to characterize DBT as a “few steps above CBT.” It’s a different approach, but neither is “above” or “below,” they just address different types of issues.
Krakken, my gosh. Projecting much? He’s being honest about his addiction and getting his life back together. Why in the world would you want to disparage that? If anything, his honesty in seeking out help could be encouraging others to also seek help if they need it. He did not need to go public. I applaud him for his transparency.
If Krakken is truly in the mental health field, I would encourage him/her to make a change.
DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) is similar to CBT (cognitive behavior therapy). CBT was mentioned as his therapy yesterday. Both are long established “evidence based practices.” Both are also A LOT of work in both time and emotional effort and require full commitment and participation from the client. There’s homework assignments and it’s…work, no matter how luxurious the environment you’re doing it in. That’s all I wanted to say.
True. And yes DBT is the most effective treatment for Borderline personality disorder. However if Kit has been abusing alcohol to fix a psychological problem like depression, DBT, yoga and meditation might help but also starting on Antidepressants.
Sophie Turner has being open about her own depression and having to go on antidepressants. Maise Williams also developed depression and is getting treatment. It might just be situational for all three or lifelong (Sophie admits to her depression happening in early childhood before being cast in GOT). But I do hope if needed he replaces the alcohol with actual medical treatment.
We don’t know that he’s NOT on antidepressants or other psychotropic meds but even if he’s not, antidepressants aren’t necessary or indicated just because someone has depression. Nor is Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) required for anyone with a substance use disorder (except for maybe opioid use disorders, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic). I’m growing more and more uncomfortable by the judgement being expressed about the type of treatment he’s receiving. Just because the facility he is in is ridiculously expensive and “luxurious” does not mean they don’t also provide competent, evidence-based care. It also doesn’t mean that they don’t have a skilled team of providers advising him on an appropriate treatment plan. Right now I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he’s chosen the program that meets his specific needs, which other than a problem with alcohol, we know little about.
I want to clarify that I did not mean DBT wasn’t used for personality disorders, in fact it’s practically the ONLY thing helpful for borderline. I meant that DBT is effective for other disorders as well.
I very much appreciate your expert contributions to this thread, KarenG.
Thanks, I didn’t really mean to go off that much but I hadn’t had coffee yet. And being both a mental health patient and a professional, it’s…my life.
I struggle to comprehend how the type of Treatment centre described here can possibly impart a sense of personal responsibility within the client in a place that clearly wants the money it charges these clients to keep rolling in. Messing up in treatment will get you kicked out
I wonder what happens when you mess up in hi-end celebrity/1%-er rehabs. Do they cancel your horse riding and massage privileges for the day and make you eat carbs?🤔
What are your bona fides again?
Perhaps they have low blood sugar and should eat some carbs themself.
I really appreciate all of your well informed and sensible contributions here, KarenG. This stuff is so important and yet still so stigmatized.
@Krakken, maybe you should start wondering a little bit less about things and start looking into your ‘missing sensitivity chip’ issues. Because it IS missing. I also don’t understand how you can’t see that such facilities are needed for A-list celebrities such as Kit (practically everyone knows him as Jon Snow). I’m sure it wouldn’t help him much if other patients would keep fangirling/boying (no matter how well they meant) around him while he’s trying to recover/have some peace. Btw, there are super exclusive options for everything in life, nothing new.
I have to say that I hope that people who mess up in TREATMENT for their addictions are treated with compassion and clinical assistance not being belittled. I don’t think you have to be a 1%er to benefit from developing positive outlets for self-expression. Nature and massages are good for everyone.
I find it hard to discuss alcoholism, because it’s ruined relationships and family members. Worst case, it kills them. Best case, they struggle the rest of their lives. So whatever the reason, and whenever he does it, I hope it works. I gave up drinking alcohol a long time ago (at home) because I live with an alcoholic, and it’s a nightmare. One day I want to throw in the towel. The next I feel guilty for even thinking about the towel.
Alcohol killed my father. It seems to be my lot in life…living with drunks. I love red wine, girly drinks, ritas, extremely dirty martinis and who doesn’t drink or fall off wagons….me. The drunks get pissed while their loved ones wallow in misery on many levels. Sorry! Guess I’ve been carrying that around lately! So so sorry.
I’m so sorry you’re going through that. As someone who is working on getting sober and whose last two relationships were with alcoholics, I completely feel your pain. I wish I could offer you more than empathy and support, but keep up the good fight. I’ll be thinking of you.
I hope he’s able to find peace and begin recovery. I don’t get why it’s being framed as him falling apart at the end of GOT. More likely that since he is done promoting the show and has some down time, he’s now able to give his health the focus it needs.
I feel bad for him and his wife — it must be so difficult to be going through this at the start of a marriage. But I suspect if he has dealt with these issues for years she knew what she was signing up for and wanted to help him. I hope they make it out of this alright. They seem like a nice couple.
I thought the same. Many alcoholics are high-functioning. It’s entirely possible that he put off treatment until they wrapped. I hope it takes.
Addiction is so difficult to break away from. I hope he’s able to get the help he needs and to come out of it in a much better place.
The rehab he’s at looks amazing. Kit may come out completely transformed. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/a19705115/high-end-psychiatric-hospitals-treatment-centers/
Wow. It looks incredible. I don’t know why people think that just because a place is expensive, exclusive, and visited by famous people that it doesn’t provide excellent care.
And on top of that – do people expect him to go somewhere that’s underfunded? I’d imagine going to a place like this probably provides more privacy as well – which would be important for anyone in the entertainment industry.
The fame/celebrity machine strikes again. I wish him the best. I like the wording that he is proud of his decision, you don’t hear that often and there is nothing to be ashamed about for getting help.
I applaud him for seeing a problem, and doing something about it!!!
The emphasis on the “luxury” aspects of this centre instead of the treatment is kind of belittling and dismissive to the seeking of treatment. Since when are work-outs and yoga bad or for the rich?
So tired of this site’s incredible snarky and unintelligent takes. Did you google DBT? It’s fairly serious treatment. To distill it down to yoga, food and meditation furthers the idea that mental health is only for the elite or something not to take seriously. I’ve been reading this site less and less as I find it constantly offensive (both in terms of the lack of intelligence and just plain rude hot takes) but this takes the cake and I’m done.
I completely agree.
(I wonder how long this critical comment will be up since comments regularly disappear here…..)