There can come a time in the cycle of an individual’s drug abuse and addiction that they hit a sort of “rock bottom”. This is a point wherein they essentially feel that they have lost everything there is to lose, thanks to their drug habits, and that there is really no place else to go but up. For some individuals, this can be a turning point in their lives, and it can drive them to seek the help they desperately need. That said, waiting for an individual to hit rock bottom before offering them the help they need in order to successfully overcome their problems with drug abuse and addiction is nothing short of playing with fire. There is no telling which time will be the time that the individual’s body finally decides it cannot take any more and shuts down. Family members and friends therefore have a responsibility to reach out to their loved one and offer their help and support, through the staging of an intervention.
Effective Interventions
Contrary to what some may believe, effective interventions are not confrontational meetings wherein the drug abuser or addict is guilted or shamed into rehabilitation treatment by emotionally distraught family members and friends. Actually, effective interventions are well-organized meetings that confront the individual with their drug use problems and the many damaging effects these problems are having not only on their own life and health, but on the lives and health of others around them. Properly run, an intervention helps the individual to recognize the connection between their drug use and their life problems and decide that they need and want to make a change. This means that any intervention has a greater chance of leading to success if it is overseen by a trained and experienced interventionist. But could a recovered addict be such an individual?
Many times, the individual who is receiving an intervention can feel that he is being “ganged up on” by others who don’t truly understand what he is going through. This feeling, coupled with the emotional ties the individual has with family members and friends, can make him feel that he is more able to be comfortable and open up with a stranger (the professional interventionist) than his own family members and friends. If this may be the case, imagine how powerful the interventionist may be in helping the addict admit to his problems and his need for help if he has himself gone through the very same situation? Recovered addicts know exactly what it’s like to want something desperately (recovery and sobriety) and reach out for it, only to fail miserably. Recovered addicts know exactly what it’s like to lose all hope for a better future, and simply succumb to the problem that is consuming their life, hoping for it all to end so just they can finally be free of it. Whereas many individuals who have never suffered from addiction may believe that it is simply a matter of willpower, and that an individual who truly wants to be free from drug use would be able to make the decisions necessary to bring this about, a recovered addict knows first-hand that it is simply not this easy. They know that in order to get and stay clean, the individual will have to work hard at it, probably harder than they’ve ever worked at anything else before in their life. But they also know that full and lasting recovery is absolutely possible, and they are willing to fight at the individual’s side to help make sure they reach it.
For the recovered addict himself, performing interventions can be highly rewarding as they have the opportunity to take their own experiences with drug abuse, addiction, intervention and recovery and use them to help others take back control of their lives and futures. It is just one more step that helps the individual strengthen the healthy foundation for their new life.
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