Drug and alcohol addiction is a very difficult and problematic issue in this country that has been going on and causing different problems throughout the years and for many years. Actually, ever since the turn of the century, drug and alcohol addiction has taken on a whole new level in this country, creating different problems and crisis issues of different kinds. If major action is not taken to address these issues, then bad things will happen and trouble will be caused as a result.
One of the biggest problems when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction is that the vast majority of those who are currently addicted to drugs and alcohol are totally unwilling to do anything about their addiction crisis. Currently, those who are hooked on drugs and alcohol are simply unwilling to get help.
There are some numbers on this, to give the reader a better idea of just how harsh and difficult these issues are. The result of this has been that crisis interventions for drug and alcohol abuse are now becoming more needed and necessary than they ever were before. Studies have shown in more recent years that the current percentage of American drug and alcohol addicts who are in fact NOT willing to seek out drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation and actually do something about their problem numbers as high as ninety percent. The current concept that one can just sort of, “deal with his or her addiction,” is more prevalent than it ever was before, making the absolute vast majority of the addicted populace feeling as though they do not need to go to rehab, and that they don’t really have a very big problem, to begin with.
The sad truth though is that drug and alcohol addiction treatment is very much so necessary and needed for those who should be engaging in it. If a person is addicted to drugs and alcohol, they need to go to an inpatient rehabilitation program. It is as simple as that. To make sure that that happens even if the addict is unwilling to seek treatment, the beauty and the skill of intervention is to help make beating addiction a very real and very workable prospect.
The Purpose of Intervention
The entire goal and purpose of an intervention is to get the person to realize that they are in fact very much so in need of going to a treatment center. The whole objective here is to bring them to an understanding that their life is in a very bad position the way it is right now, and things will only get worse long before they get better if nothing is done to address the addiction itself.
An intervention is designed to help people and to give them a new chance at seeing the truth of their own problems. The whole goal and ambition of intervention is to wake people up to the very serious issue that they are in. This is done basically by getting a bunch of the family members and friends of the addict together and to get them to confront the addict. Each family member and loved one has a chance to speak to the addict. In such a conversation, a few key points will be gone over:
- Each family member needs to point out how they have observed drug and alcohol addiction harm the individual addict, and the types of issues that that family member or loved one has observed in the addict. This is very important as it plants the seed of an idea of what the addict is doing to himself or herself.
- Each family member needs to point out how the addict has affected them personally. Each family member needs to make it very clear to the addict what the addict did that hurt the family member or loved one on a personal level. This too is important, as it plants the very necessary seed of accountability and responsibility.
- Last but not least, the family members and loved ones of the addict need to give the addict an idea of what the family member or loved one will do if the addict does not go to rehab. This involves taking away certain privileges, as well as other helping hands and helping factors that the person might be finding very useful otherwise. Food, cell phone, a car, money, a room to sleep in, clothes, support, all of this needs to be stripped away. This gives the addict a sense of consequence.
- At the end of each family member’s speech, they need to also put in a pleading request that the addict does the right thing and goes into a rehab center.
This is how an intervention works. Each family member has a chance to say these four different things, and the overall end result is that the addict really gets the idea of what they need to do to really engage themselves and come clean from drug and alcohol abuse and go into a rehab center.
Why an Intervention is So Important
A drug and alcohol addiction intervention is a very necessary and needed prospect. The facts and statistics regarding addiction are just absolutely miserable. For a look at just some of them:
- The average individual with a drug addiction needs $200.00 per day to support his/her drug addiction.
- The average individual with a drug addiction has to steal an average of $1,000.00 worth of property and goods to raise the $200.00.
- The average individual with a drug addiction “self-medicates” a physical, emotional, spiritual hurt with drugs that he/she has not been able to deal with in a healthy manner.
- Most prison inmates have a drug addiction.
- There is a gradual dissemination of the ‘harder drugs’ heroin and cocaine into younger and younger populations as the stigma of drug use breaks down. The alarming decrease in the cost of hard drugs also means that they now represent better ‘value for money’ than alcohol.
- 70% of violent crime is committed by people who are intoxicated with either alcohol or drugs.
- People who have been drinking are at greater risk of being the victim of violent crime and are also more likely to be involved in accidents, fires, and to engage in self-harm.
- In one study conducted at the National Addiction Center, 650 individuals with a heroin addiction committed more than 70,000 crimes in a three-month period.
Harm Reduction Intervention
Harm reduction intervention is ideal, to say the least. It would be much better if the addict was never at any risk, and if the family members and loved ones of the addict were also never at risk. In a harm reduction intervention, the key is to utilize an effective an engaging approach that is safe and secure. In this approach, it is recommended that the members of the intervention be prepared to deal with a violent outburst from the addict if the addict is the type of individual that would do such a thing. If so, it is important to be prepared for it and to take it in stride should it happen. At the end of the day, the intervention needs to be safe for all involved.
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