Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

How Interventions Encourage Individuals Make the Decision to Get Help

The reality of drug or alcohol addiction is that the addiction is a disease that can ruin lives and ultimately kill the addict. When an individual is addicted to drugs or alcohol they are at risk of getting in trouble with the law, suffering medical problems, ruining relationships with their children or families, losing their job, and ultimately, winding up alone with nothing but their addiction to live with. Does this sound like someone you love? If so, it doesn’t have to be this way! Interventions can help an addict to see the light at the end of the tunnel and make the decision to accept help when it is offered to them.

Controlling an addiction is like trying to control a plane that is plummeting to the ground at 200 mph in a downward spin—it’s nearly impossible, but all hope is not lost until the very end. Similarly, addiction is like a downward spiral but there is always hope that it can stop, that the addict can be saved and that a new life can be lived. For some, intervention is the only way that their life can be saved.

What is Intervention?

An intervention is a way of encouraging an addict to seek treatment and heal from their addiction. There are two ways that an intervention is commonly approached. The first is called an invitational approach and the second type is the surprise approach.

Under an invitational approach to an intervention, a team of family members, interventionists and loved ones come together and figure out how they can effectively interrupt the addiction of their loved one. Typically the group will come together and invite the addict to talk with the group about their addiction and the treatment that is available to them.

Under the surprise approach to an intervention the addict does not know that an intervention is going to occur. Although this approach can be much more difficult for the addict to handle it is vital to some because many addicts will not come to talk with their family members or loved ones about their problem and treatment willingly. The surprise approach to an intervention involves the intervention team getting together prior to talking with the addict and they will develop a plan for the treatment so that all they have to do is get the addict to accept the help and then whisk them off to a treatment center immediately to prevent any further drug use.

How an Intervention Helps an Addict

Interventions work to help the addict by encouraging them to seek treatment when it’s needed. If an individual can find some type of motivation to stop using drugs or alcohol (often this motivation is found when they hear friends and family members discuss how badly they are hurting as a result of the addiction) and if the loved ones are able to change the attitudes they have relating to the addiction then there’s a good chance that the intervention will work. An intervention is just the beginning to a long road of recovery but can be the starting point to a new life.

For more information about intervention or for help finding a local interventionist that can help you or a loved one, call 1-888-461-2155 to speak with a referral specialist about your needs.

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Helping To Improve PMPs – Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs – Through A Federally-Supported PMP Center Of Excellence

With overdoses and deaths involving the use of prescription drugs skyrocketing in the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has selected the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University to host a new initiative to reduce diversion and abuse of these drugs: the PMP Center of Excellence. Funded through a training….

Understanding Why People Leave Drug Treatment

If you or a loved one is addicted to drugs and enters into treatment it’s important that you understand that not all types of drug treatment are effective for all people and often times people leave drug treatment for a number of different reasons that are and are not always related to their addiction. The….

Signs it’s Time to Get Treatment for Marijuana Addiction

Some believe that smoking pot is not bad, many think that marijuana is not addictive and that there’s no need for treatment if an individual simply smokes some weed once in a while but this is all untrue. Marijuana is addicting and it does cause problems for thousands of smokers throughout the country. Here’s a….

Abstinent Alcoholics And Postural Sway

Excessive sway during quiet standing is a common and significant consequence of chronic alcoholism, even after prolonged sobriety, and can lead to fall-related injury and even death. A new study of residual postural instability in alcohol-abstinent men and women shows that alcoholics improve with prolonged sobriety, but the improvement may not fully erase the problem….

Alcohol abuse adds significantly to costs of doing business

Ensuring Solutions has come up with some sobering facts about alcohol abuse and its impact in almost all facets of our society. Excessive alcohol use by employees and their family members has a substantial impact on the cost of doing business. It costs U.S. employers billions in lost productivity and additional health care costs every….