This is what crosses my mind with every episode of “Celebrity Rehab.” It’s also what makes me feel humbled and grateful for every day of the 14 years and 8 months that the person I love has been clean. Recovery became a source of strength for my whole family, but it could have quickly and easily turned into a story like Mike Starr’s.

“Celebrity Rehab” is still reality TV. But it captures the rollercoaster of pain and relief in a way that is rare on-screen. It also has, by being on VH1 and using the authority and youth-appeal of Dr. Drew, sent a message to an audience that shows like “Intervention” may not reach.

I’ve certainly had my questions each season — Why was Kari Ann Peniche allowed to repeatedly return after being abusive so many times? What was really going on with Mindy McCready’s seizure and denial of having a substance abuse issue? Why did Mackenzie Phillips and Daniel Baldwin need to be there if they already had accumulated several months of sobriety each? — but believe that the value of the program is worth wondering about the boundaries of the Pasadena Recovery Center, Dr. Drew, and the producers of the show.

Drew Grant at Salon.com doesn’t agree. Grant writes that the show should be shut down because of a “warped sense of priorities” — exemplified by putting celebrities who struggle with addiction alongside celebrities like Rachel Uchitel (best known as the first named mistress of Tiger Woods, although his name was never mentioned on the show), who was brought in for an addiction to love, as well as others who have already been in treatment or have long-term sobriety (Grant mentions Gary Busey and Daniel Baldwin here).

“The emphasis of the show has shifted from drug and alcohol treatment to creating the perfect storm of volatile and absurd characters in order to remain entertaining and bring viewers back week to week. And that’s not helping anyone recover,” Grant writes. It also, Grant says, perpetuates the “celebrity narcissism” that Dr. Drew helped define, dilutes the seriousness and value of treating addiction on TV.

Grant has a point. That point is certainly illustrated by White House party-crasher and “Real Housewives of D.C.” star Michaele Salahi, who was brought on to the cast for the upcoming season of “Celebrity Rehab” and then was dismissed because “professional assessments found that she did not meet” criteria of having a substance abuse or addiction issue. (A rep for the show says Salahi mislead producers while her husband Tareq says he is going to expose the show for unfairly firing his wife, who needs treatment to deal with the stress of having Multiple Sclerosis.)

Does the show look for names that will attract attention (Uchitel) and personalities that will amp up the dramatic tension (like high-conflict former lovers Tom Sizemore and Heidi Fleiss)? Of course. But even when Uchitel’s vague addiction to love was cited, the peek in her medicine cabinet full of prescriptions and stories about taking lots of Ambien screamed spoke to other abuses. Ditto for McCready.

Perhaps Mackenzie Phillips really needed the time in treatment. Perhaps there was some all-out effort to serve Kari Ann well, not just taking care of ratings.

I’m not Dr. Drew or any of the other staffers and medical consultants on the show. I’m not an addiction specialist, and so I won’t make that judgment. It’s not up to us to decide who has the serious addiction issue or needs treatment on this show.

Grant says “Celebrity Rehab” needs to decide whether it is a show to treat drug and alcohol addicts or to treat people addicted to fame, and until then, Dr. Drew is “not helping anyone.”

No matter why they were there, Uchitel, Busey, Baldwin, and many other graduates of the show, unlike Mike Starr, are still alive.