Why Do An Intervention

Choosing to go ahead with a professional intervention is usually not the first choice a family makes when dealing with a loved one who is addicted to drugs or alcohol. By nature, addiction can be difficult to spot, and the family may go through a period of denial about the seriousness of the situation. Denial is one of the classic signs of addiction, and the person who has the substance abuse issue is going to use denial and deflection as two of his or her tools to focus attention away from the real issue and keep the addiction alive and well.

Once the family realizes that it is dealing with someone who is an addict, they use the methods they are familiar with to try to get that person into treatment. These may include:

  • Reasoning
  • Arguing
  • Nagging
  • Pleading
  • Threatening

Some family members take a completely different view of the situation and may either ignore the issue or start enabling the addict. Neither of these are helpful, either.

Intervention Services Focus on the Family

When a family decides that they would like to bring in an interventionist to work with them, they are enlisting the help of someone who has the skills and experience to help their loved one admit that they need to get help. The family does not have to deal with the situation alone anymore.

During the months and years when an addict has been actively engaged in his or her behaviors, the family has had to deal with the consequences of that persons choices many times. It has been a costly experience, in time, money and in the emotional toll it has taken on everyone around the addict.

Choosing to conduct an alcohol and drug intervention means that the family gets to stop the emotional and financial bleeding.  It doesn’t mean abandoning someone who is willing to get help, though. It means that the family has decided to set some healthy limits on what it considers to be acceptable behavior.

The person who is struggling with addiction is presented with the opportunity to go to treatment. Ideally, arrangements have already been made so that all the loved one has to do is say,”Yes” and then he or she can leave right away. The opportunity to get well is presented in a non-confrontational way. This type of pattern for a California intervention has the best chance of success.

If Your Loved One Needs Help, Get It Now

If you are struggling with finding help for your loved one’s addictive behavior, contact Above It All Treatment Center online, or call us now at 888-997-3006.

Family And Recovery: The Importance Of Involving Family

Why does the addict’s family need to be involved in the progress?  It seems pretty clear that the addict, who has been abusing alcohol and or drugs and placing him or herself and family members in difficult situations, should be the primary focus of any treatment process.

But, this viewpoint holds the recovery of the addict in question back, although it still is possible to recover without the family’s assistance.

What about Addiction and the Family is So Important in this Process?

Unfortunately, one of the primary difficulties of treatment lies in helping the family understand that they engaged in behaviors which helped make the addiction possible.  This is a much different statement than assigning the family blame.  It’s just the way addiction works – everyone shares a bit of responsibility and can do something to help the addict better, including all family members.

Families provide “enabling” behaviors which allow the addict to continue his or her destructive behavior.  Some of these behaviors are common enabling behaviors families give to addicts:

  • Providing money to the addict for any reason, knowing it will most likely be spent on drugs or alcohol
  • Justifying the addict’s behavior as “only occurring once in a while”
  • Giving the addict too much love, figuring they’ll “get better in their own time”
  • Allowing the addict to drink or use drugs as long as they don’t do something too dangerous, like driving

The point is that these behaviors in family members allow the addict to continue their behavior, when it’s best for the addict to learn a clear line of what is acceptable and what is not.  Drawing a boundary and ceasing enabling behaviors like this helps the addict understand and find motivation for discontinuing their destructive behavior.

This is why family counseling and on-going support is so important.

It’s Difficult for Addicts to get Better Alone

For family members having a difficult time understanding why they need to be involved in the treatment process, it’s important to remember how difficult anything is to do alone.  They should recall a time where they tried to handle something without talking with other family members, friends, or other trusted individuals.  It’s never easy to do something alone.

The more support a family member can get in recovery, the more likely they are to have a successful recovery.  Above It All Treatment Center helps family members understand how to support their loved in a healthy way so they discontinue the destructive behavior and begin living a happy and peaceful life.