American Idol – A Guide to Withdrawal

The votes are in, now all we have to do is wait for the results. In the meantime, I think it is time to talk about an issue that all Idol-Maniacs have been trying to avoid – our obsession with this show and the ramifications of its ending tonight.

One of the things that I have enjoyed the most about writing these columns for Foxes on Idol has been hearing from the readers. The American Idol Experience elicited a large response and I am gratified to know that others are similarly afflicted! Many people joked about being “addicted” to the show and asked me, “What will I do when this show is over?” Good question, especially at this stage of the game. Some of us have been through this before but for many of you, this is your “first time!”

Over the past two decades, the term addiction has been broadly applied to a variety of behaviors. Psychologists disagree as to whether or not an actual substance has to be involved in order for a behavior pattern to be considered a true addiction, but there are people who are truly addicted to gambling, shopping, and other psychological forms of behavior. There is no substance involved, only the activity. There is currently a debate over the use of the term Internet Addiction. People who spend too much time on the Internet find themselves disconnecting from family and friends, losing their jobs, and ignoring important personal tasks. Their lives are certainly unmanageable. I prefer the term obsession to addiction in referring to our attachment to American Idol. However, in order to help ease ourselves through the difficult days ahead, I will draw upon some of the resources available in the treatment of addictions.

Once the show is over and the first non-Idol Tuesday rolls around, the reality will finally kick in. It is over. While we have our videotapes, CDs, MP3s, and websites with streaming video, it will never be the same as the real thing. The drama will be missing and the outcome decided. There will be a void in our lives.

Expect to experience at least some of the following documented symptoms of withdrawal:

• Anxiety
• Irritability or easily excited
• Emotional volatility, rapid emotional changes
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Difficulty with thinking clearly
• Bad dreams
• Feeling of jumpiness or nervousness
• Feeling of shakiness

Don’t laugh! Think about the way you felt on Wednesdays when your favorite was eliminated or when Simon tore them to shreds. You reacted. I received emails from people who were certainly exhibiting “emotional volatility.”

For many of us, watching American Idol was more than just a one- or two-hour a week habit. After the shows, we spent two hours voting and then perhaps some time online chatting with friends about the show. We constantly populated the message boards and surfed for new articles about the show. In doing this, other areas of our lives were neglected. Our non-Idol obsessed friends began to stop calling and we didn’t even notice because we were so focused on the show. I have to share this with you. I am involved in a Neighborhood Watch group that meets on the first Tuesday of each month. These meetings start at seven and go on forever. There was no way I was going to miss American Idol to sit in someone’s living room and listen to them argue about whether or not to have a block party, so I stopped going. After I missed the first two meetings that coincided with AI, they stopped calling me! Now I suppose that I will have to go back with some lame excuse as to why I missed four months in a row (including the month I was supposed to host!). This is what I am talking about. Our obsession with the show begins to interfere with our interpersonal relations and that can create problems.

In the process, we also sacrificed family time and I am sure there are a lot of non-addicted “significant others” out there who rather resent the time that we have devoted to this show. Let’s face it, people who are not into this show simply do not understand and they never will. We have neglected our household responsibilities (my own house is a mess) and other activities that we usually enjoy. As I said previously, we have been living from Tuesday to Tuesday for months and American Idol has been a major focus in our lives.