And these photos, taken this morning at 4am, are the proof. “Popping out” for cigarettes and drinks in the early hours, the multi-millionaire singer could hardly have adopted a more self destructive course of behaviour. Just yesterday she visited a police station to be charged with possession of a class A drug after a 19 minute film emerged of her smoking crack cocaine and talking about valium. (Peaches Gedof was caught on the same film, apparently purchasing £190 worth of drugs). During her early hours sojourn, Winehouse chatted with photographers, showed off her tattoo and wore a bandana with the name of her husband her husband Blake CIvil Fielder on it. Ten days ago Winehouse visited a police station in Holborn to answer charges of common assault. A doctor writes after the jump.

Amy Winehouse’s drug addiction and tendency to self harm show someone suffering profound psychological disturbances, say doctors.

“Addiction is a biological switch having been thrown in the deep regions of the brain. For the most part emotional disregulation is why people go to drugs in the first place: Difficulty regulating feelings, trying to feel better, seeking solutions to emotional states, and inadvertently throwing that switch,” says LA’s Dr Drew.

Self harm comes from a similar place.

“Cutting can become part of an addictive syndrome. It does activate thrill mechanisms and cause a powerful surge of central nervous system endorphins. But it is not the initial manifestation of an addiction. It can be a compulsion, and it is a sign of very serious psychiatric disturbances, but if it becomes an addictive behavior there almost always was first an addiction to a pharmacological agent.”

The answer according to Dr Drew is simple.

“I have never seen somebody with advanced forms of addiction successfully stay stopped without treatment,” he says.