Addiction Intervention
Video: How Does a Family Know If They Need an Intervention?
Earl Hightower, one of the top addiction intervention specialists in the country, talks about how a family knows when an intervention is needed. Earl has done more than 2,000 interventions over the last 25 years.
Watch this video to learn how a family can know when it’s time for an intervention.
Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions in Emergency Treatment of Alcohol-Involved Youth
The cost of treating alcohol-related injuries in emergency departments adds up, especially when taking into account the counseling and intervention required in some cases. When youth enter the emergency department with a drinking-related problem, medical personnel are especially compelled to counsel them to make more healthy decisions.
Intervention Series Shows the Many Faces of Addiction
Think you know what an addict looks like? Many of us have preconceived notions of just what an addict is, and many of us are very surprised to learn that our ideas are totally off the mark. The truth is that addicts could look like you or me, the neighbor, your doctor, your son or daughter or parent or sibling. Addiction touches every strata of society: rich and poor, educated and illiterate, young and old, male and female. It also cuts across race, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, and political affiliation. Intervention, the 2009 Emmy award-winning series on A&E, captures them succinctly and poignantly in a well-researched and compelling format.
Basic Stories, Real People
These are real-life stories, you see. They’re not actors and they’re not getting paid to lay out their addictions for the world to see. They agree to participate in a documentary on addiction. They don’t know they will soon face an intervention. If they accept the offer of treatment, the costs are picked up for them.
This is the basic format for each of the stories: first the interviews, shot on camera, with the addict, family members and close friends participating. Then comes the intervention, facilitated by a trained interventionist. The goal: get the addict to accept treatment. If the person agrees, he or she is immediately whisked off to the treatment facility – whether that involves going by car, taking a plane ride or other transportation. They are accompanied by the interventionist or staff from the treatment facility. There’s no turning back once the commitment has been secured. It’s off to treatment, period.
Of course, no one likes it once they get to treatment. Addicts, as we come to know through the course of each of the programs, are fierce in their denial of their own problems. Even when they grudgingly come to admit that they might just have a little problem – but nothing they can’t lick – it comes with a series of caveats. Most of them just want to go home. Some of them leave before treatment is complete. They do so against recommendations and many of those that leave will relapse. Such is the addiction cycle. Without firmly committing to treatment and going through it with a genuine intent to get clean, addicts will simply revert back to their old habits and continue their downward slide.
The interventionist, along with the statements of family members and close friends, helps the addict to realize how deeply the addiction has hurt all concerned. There are a lot of tears shed, or bursts of anger. Some addicts walk out and refuse to come back. Others come back but still put up a fight. And so it goes.
While the format is consistent week to week, the stories are all different. These are, after all, individuals – each with unique backgrounds, each with their own addiction to overcome.
Here are a few of their stories, in brief.
When Intervention May Be the Best Approach
You’ve tried everything to get your loved one to stop using drugs or alcohol and nothing has worked so far. Screaming, hysteria, threats, punishment, or withholding affection – whatever tactic you may have used just seemed to make things worse. Does any of this sound familiar? Maybe now is the time when intervention may be the best approach.
Intervention is Not a Dirty Word
Despite the negative connotation many people associate with the word, intervention is a proactive and positive step that family members, friends, and others can take to help someone whose substance abuse or other addictive behavior has totally destroyed – or is in the process of destroying – their life. So, before going any further, start by thinking about intervention as one of the best approaches you can possibly take to assist your loved one or friend to get help to overcome his or her addiction.
What Intervention Really Is
Part of the reason that people are skeptical or fear intervention is that they don’t know what it is or how it works. In essence, intervention is a process to help convince the addict that now is the time to accept and go to treatment. Intervention can be considered the first step in the drug, alcohol, or other addictive behavior rehabilitation process. That’s it in a nutshell.
Can anyone perform an intervention? While concerned family members and friends may think they can do the intervention on their own, the personal connection, emotions, and circumstances may make it impossible to carry out. Unable to separate themselves from the pain and resistance of the addict, they may cave in and allow the addict to go one with his or her life as it is. This only sets back the prospect of getting treatment. It also solidifies the manipulative power the addict holds over the family and friends. And addicts are extremely adept at manipulation. It isn’t that they want to hurt those who love them, but they are incapable of rational thinking due to the fact that they are bound to their addiction.
For this reason, intervention is best conducted by a qualified, trained professional called an interventionist. This individual is highly skilled in overcoming the barriers addicts have to getting treatment. They can often get through to the addict when no one else can, helping them to realize exactly where they stand in terms of their addiction, and showing them there is a path out of addiction – if they’re willing to accept that they are addicted and go to treatment.
Why is an interventionist so critical in conducting an effective intervention? Think of it as experience versus simply wanting things to get better. In addition, being an outsider, the interventionist is not emotionally caught up in the drama that surrounds the addict’s life. The interventionist has years of experience in being able to judge addicts’ psychological and physical conditions. They know how to deal with resistance and denial and objections – and the physical cravings and urges that are pulling at the addict – and help the addict get to the point where he or she is willing to consider going to treatment.
Intervention Goals
While the primary goal of an intervention is to get the addict to accept and go into treatment, there are other goals of effective intervention. These include:
• Creating a plan where the family can become empowered through education on all aspects of addiction and enabling.
Interventions for Medical Inpatients with Unhealthy Drinking Behaviors
Unhealthy drinking practices are often seen among medical inpatients. While hospitalization is regarded by some as a "teachable moment" for motivating patients to decrease drinking, studies of brief hospital-based interventions have not always found decreases. New findings show that focusing on alcohol-related illnesses may make hospital interventions more effective. Results will be published in the July 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
Modern Approaches to Addiction Intervention and Rehabilitation
Modern behaviors towards addiction and rehabilitation have considerably changed during the last decade thanks to the multitude of images depicting substance abuse and behavioral disorders that are infiltrating this technological generation. The Internet, celebrity blogging, social networking, podcasts, video streaming, reality television programming, and ever-revolving tabloids have all become commonplace within the traditional American household.
Do Internet Interventions Help Smokers Quit?
The Internet is useful for obtaining help in many areas. Hardly a car buyer takes the leap without doing research online for fair pricing and feature information. Professionals who had no time for a traditional graduate program are finding that online degree programs fit their busy lifestyle and need to beef up a resume. Full Story
Invitational Model of Intervention
Overview
The Invitational Model of Intervention, also known as the Systemic Family Intervention Model, was developed by Ed Speare and Wayne Raiter. Rather than focusing solely on the person with a substance abuse problem, the Invitational Model addresses the entire family together, with the addicted individual invited to attend as well. This model is based on the idea that if the system changes, every individual within the system will also change, including the addict (systems theory). It is designed to be a non-confrontational and nonjudgmental form of intervention.
Johnson Model of Intervention
"It is a myth that alcoholics have some spontaneous insight and then seek treatment. Victims of this disease do not submit to treatment out of spontaneous insight – typically, in our experience they come to their recognition scenes through a buildup of crises that crash through their almost impenetrable defense systems. They are forced to seek help; and when they don’t, they perish miserably." – Vernon Johnson, I’ll Quit Tomorrow, 1973
Brief Intervention Found Effective for Repeat Drunk Drivers
Driving while impaired (DWI) contributes significantly to traffic crashes, and is involved in more than one-third of all fatalities. Many DWI recidivists (drinking drivers who re-offend) do not participate in mandated alcohol-evaluation and intervention programs, or they continue to drink problematically after their licenses have been re-issued.
Need Help Finding an Intervention Specialist?
We can refer you to an experienced interventionist who can help you help your loved one.
The Addiction Primer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Help for a Loved One
A very inexpensive yet indispensable guide for anyone struggling with a loved one's addiction. Chapters on intervention, what to expect from rehab, and information on how addiction impacts the family.
