Does Intervention Help?

Addressing the drug addiction or alcohol addiction of someone close to you can be a difficult situation to handle. The last thing you want to do is turn the person away and send them deeper into a cycle of addiction. But at the same time if someone has a serious issue with drugs or alcohol, an intervention may be the most effective way to convince them to seek treatment for their problem. A drug intervention or alcohol intervention is the organized attempt by the friends or family of an addict to get them to get professional help for their addiction. The confrontation is usually directed with the help of a licensed treatment professional.

Direct Intervention vs. Indirect Intervention

There are two different ways that an intervention can be carried out. A direct intervention is a confrontational meeting with the individual that has the drug addiction or alcohol addiction. An indirect intervention involves working with family members in order to help them be more effective in helping the addict in question. Oftentimes, family members develop co-dependency issues, and when they believe they are helping the alcoholic or addict their behaviors actually attribute to the addiction. This includes things such as giving someone with a drug or alcohol addiction money, allowing them to be under the influence, giving them a place to live, or anything that makes it possible for them to continue their addiction.

Whether the intervention is direct or indirect, the main goal is to get the individual in question to attend drug rehab or alcohol rehab. This can be extremely difficult at times, considering the stubborn nature of addiction. Drug addiction and alcohol addiction are mental diseases that affect a person's judgment, and they can quickly take over their life. Convincing someone to go to drug rehab or alcohol rehab through an alcohol intervention or drug intervention can prove to be much harder than it sounds. Addiction can be very powerful, and it can become the most important thing in one's life - even more important than family and friends.

As popularized by the television series Intervention, drug and alcohol interventions can save lives. Typically, an intervention consists of friends and family members reading letters describing how the person's addiction has directly affected their lives. This tactic can be very effective, as it showcases the impact of addiction from every angle. Addicts and alcoholics sometimes do not realize how much their substance abuse affects the ones around them. For friends and family members, it can be extremely painful to watch the ones they love waste their lives on drugs and alcohol, and letting them know in which ways they are affected by addiction can shed light on the situation.

Intervention can be very helpful in getting addicts to seek professional help for their problem, and it can save lives. Many people have been able to turn their lives around because of a drug intervention or alcohol intervention that was initiated by people who care about them. Interventions can come as a wakeup call and let addicts know how hurtful their behavior can be to the people that love and care about them.