Rehab (pronounced ree-hab)
(1) A clipping of rehabilitation.
(2) In slang (though also sometimes used formally), a programme
or facility for treating substance abuse (those addicted to narcotics or alcohol.
(3) In slang (though also sometimes used formally), a programme
or facility for treating those recovering from certain medical conditions:
(4) In slang, a building which has been renovated,
usually in the context of urban renewal and re-development being.
(5) Of or relating to rehabilitation.
(6) In the vernacular of post-war New Zealand English, the
informal short form for the Department of Rehabilitation, a government institution
established to cater for the needs of injured military personnel.
(7) To rehabilitate (something, someone, a concept or
idea).
(8) In political science, to restore an individual to
their previous status (drawn from late medieval civil & canon law and associated
particularly with Soviet-era Russia and undertaken to rectify those
unpersoned).
(9) In environmental science, a defined area (land or
aquatic) in which a programme of rehabilitation is being undertaken or has been
completed.
1948 (as documented although there may have been previous
ad-hoc use in various oral traditions): The
original form emerged in the vernacular of post-war New Zealand English NZ the informal
short form for the Department of Rehabilitation, a government institution
established to cater for the needs of injured military personnel. It worked in conjunction with the civil
organization the Rehabilitation League, formed in 1931 with similar aims. By the early 1970s, the word as a slang term
was used in relation to housing and urban renewal programmes. The extension of the meaning to “an action of
restoring anything to a previous condition” emerged in the mid-nineteenth
century and was soon used of land, buildings, machinery etc and in the 1940s it
began to be applied to programmes designed to re-educate & re-train criminals,
addicts and such for a successful re-entry to society. Rehab is a noun & verb, rehaber is a noun
& rehabbed & rehabbing; the noun plural is rehabs.
The Collins Dictionary tracks patterns of word use and while the pre-modern statistics are neither comprehensive or exact to the extent revealed by analysis of the wealth of modern data, it's thought still usefully illustrative. Clearly there was a trend of use in the eighteenth century but this is thought not indicative of "rehab" being treated as a stand-alone word but as a contraction to save space when printing legal and ecclesiastical documents, a required technique in an era when ink and paper were both expensive. Rehab, as currently used, is very much a word of the twenty-first century.
The noun rehabilitation (act of reinstating in a former rank or standing) dates from the 1530s and was from the French rĂ©habilitation or the Medieval Latin rehabilitationem (nominative rehabilitatio) (restoration), a noun of action from the past-participle stem of rehabilitare, the construct being re- (again) + habitare (make fit), from the Latin habilis (easily managed, fit). At least some etymologists suspect the derived verb rehabilitate may have emerged concurrently but the earliest known citation is from 1583. The process originally applied exclusively to those who, having earlier been punished for some transgression by being stripped for rank or status, were for whatever reason restored to their former position. The verb was from the Medieval Latin rehabilitatus, the past participle of rehabilitare and the processes were at various times codified in both civil and canon law. The process is now best remembered from the practices in the Soviet Union where comrades guilty of especially unworthy acts (or thoughts) could be “unpersoned” (ie erased from all records). In some cases, circumstances could change and the unpersoned were rehabilitated.
Lindsay Lohan with broken wrist (fractured in two places in an unfortunate fall at Milk Studios during New York Fashion Week) and 355 ml (12 fluid oz) can of Rehab energy drink, Los Angeles, September 2006. The car is a 2006 Mercedes-Benz SL 65 (R230; 2004-2011) which would later feature in the tabloids after a low-speed crash. The R230 range (2001-2011) was unusual because of the quirk of the SL 550 (2006-2011), a designation used exclusively in the North American market, the RoW (rest of the world) cars retaining the SL 500 badge even though both used the 5.5 litre (333 cubic inch) V8 (M273).
Doubtlessly, substance abuse has existed ever since substances
became available to be abused and just a certainly, over the millennia,
individuals, families and societies have devised their own methods to rehabilitate
those afflicted. There was great
variation in the approaches but in the West, most tended to be influenced by
the dominant ethos that addiction was a moral failing and personal weakness, the
literature suggesting punishment and abstinence were there preferred course of
treatment; “drying out” has a long history.
It was in the late twentieth century that the notion of “rehab” being
not only a process but one which could be treated in a permanent structure, an institutionalization
of earlier ad-hoc approaches of which Alcoholics Anonymous, beginning in 1935
is probably the best known although it was by no means the first and much of
its success in attracting followers has been attributed to it distancing itself
from the religious affiliations which characterized many of its predecessors.
Lindsay Lohan in rehab center, Sundance, Utah, 2007. It is possible to purchase alcohol in Utah although the regulatory environment is more restrictive so presumably the state is more suited than many to host rehab centers.
Even by the 1970s, there was still much stigma attached
to rehabilitation programmes and it was probably the admission by Betty Ford
(1918–2011; US First Lady 1974-1977) that she was an alcoholic which was most instrumental
in lending some legitimacy to the concept.
After leaving the White House she would found her own rehab clinic which
continues to operate. In the years since,
there’s been an attempt to re-classify addiction as a treatable medical condition
rather than a moral failing or something worse which need to be treated
punitively. To an extent that has worked
and there’s probably a general public perception that addiction is exactly
that, a chemical relationship between the substances and the physical brain but
in some jurisdictions, such is the volume of addiction that it’s simply not possible
to provide rehab services on the scale required. There’s a critique also of rehab as something
which has come to be seen by the TikTok generation as something almost
fashionable, presumably because of the frequency with which pop-culture
celebrities are clients and even addiction can now thus be rationalized as one
of the corollaries of the creative mind.
There’s also of course the link between rehab clinics and wealth, the
association created because (1) they’re places where even short-stay programmes
can cost tens of thousands of dollars and (2) the only time they’re attract
publicity is when a celebrity or some other famous figure attends. Criticism has been extended too because there’s
often little sympathy for those who use an admission of addiction in mitigation
(“excuse” in the popular imagination) when on trial for this or that and there’s
a perception rehab is an attractive alternative to actual punishment.
Monster Rehab energy drinks.
According to the helpful site Caffeine Informer,
Monster's Rehab energy drinks (Peach Tea, Raspberry Tea, Orangeade, Watermelon,
Strawberry Lemonade & Tea + Lemonade) contain 160 mg of caffeine (except
the watermelon flavor which weighs in at 150).
A cup of black coffee will typically contain between 55-70 mg. According to the manufacturer, the Rehab
drinks are "packed with electrolytes, vitamins, and botanicals that
deliver on advanced hydration helping you reduce fatigue and increase
concentration." Their target market
is those who wish to "refresh, recover & revive" and their staccato
advertising copy captures the moment they'd like customers to visualize:
It’s 2 P.M. Still sleeping, but who’s banging on the
door? “Housekeeping!” Your eyes open to see a mermaid scoot her ass
across the floor. The housekeeper screams
and mutters a prayer. This can’t be
right. Your eyes close. It’s after 4 now. Your head’s pounding. So many questions. You’ve got to meet everyone downstairs in an
hour to do it all again. Not a problem. You’re a professional. You crack open a Rehab Monster Tea + Lemonade
and let the lemon-infused electrolytes, vitamins, and botanicals work their
life-giving, hydration magic. Congrats,
You’re back from the dead.
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