A&E’s ‘Addiction Unplugged’ Looks at Addiction Within the LGBTQ Community (VIDEO)
As the opioid epidemic continues to plague the country, A&E’s new docuseries is shedding light on the groups most vulnerable to addiction in Addiction Unplugged.
Set to premiere Saturday, August 17, Addiction Unplugged will air two back-to-back episodes beginning at 1/12c on the network. From Emmy-winning director and executive producer Allen J. West, the docuseries travels from city to city in the United States to take look inside the country’s growing addiction problem and methods of recovery.
In an exclusive clip form the August 31 episode, “Addiction in The LGBTQ Community,” experts discuss how this population in America is more likely to be susceptible to addiction, and what’s being done to prevent the problem.
“Just over 17 percent of the American population has drug or alcohol addiction,” Dr. Mike Hinkley says plainly. “For the queer community — the gay community — it’s over 39 percent.”
But why is it so prevalent? Psychologist Dr. Laura Saunders says, “This population has three additional stressors to make them have higher rates of mental health difficulties,” she reveals. “They have higher rates of social stigma, minority stress, and they have higher rates of family rejection.”
This combination is just one contributing factor to the growing nationwide epidemic. In the clip above, Dr. Hinkley’s recovery establishment at Wildwood Farm is featured and he reveals the backstory of his own addiction that lead him down this path to helping others.
Watch the segment above for a taste of what’s to come in the new series ahead of Addiction Unplugged‘s premiere on August 17. Among some of the other groups and communities featured in the 10-episode series are millennials, veterans, athletes, college students, celebrities, young professionals, former CEO’s and lawyers, high level executives, first responders, teachers, and even soccer moms.
What Addiction Unplugged proves is that anyone and everyone can be effected by this problem, but it also will show viewers ways in which people are trying to change the statistics.
Addiction Unplugged, Series Premiere, Saturday, August 17, 1/12c, A&E
