Drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse, in general, has been a rising crisis in the nation for some time now. The problem has always been there, but lately, it has begun to worsen significantly. In fact, since the turn of the century addiction has gradually and steadily grown more and more worrisome and troublesome. The problem has been increasing on such a rapid scale, in fact, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued this statement in 2010:
- “The 21st century has brought upon us the worst addiction problem that this nation has ever seen. The addiction issue used to be just a “problem”. Then, in 2005 it increased to a legitimate Crisis. Now, it has been increased yet again to be labeled as a full on Epidemic. Never before has the substance abuse epidemic been this impacting. Resolution needs to be arrived at soon.”
There are only two ways to address addiction in the United States. The first and foremost is obviously rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is a must and it needs to be rehabilitation at an inpatient, residential, drug and alcohol addiction and dependence treatment center, detox facility, rehab program, and recovery organization. These are by far the most successful of all treatment approaches, and these can deliver the actual life-long recoveries that addicts desire so immensely.
The second approach to addressing addiction is with prevention. Anything that has to do with stopping addiction before it even happens is considered to be prevention. Herein we find things like police activity, drug busts, DEA movements, and investigations, not to mention education and informing young adults, children, and older adults alike on the vicious effects of drug and alcohol addiction. All in all, prevention addresses addiction before it happens, rehabilitation addresses addiction after it happens.
Intervention and its Proper Utilization
When addiction has already stricken a family, intervention will be a must. Intervention, as it pertains to addiction is defined as:
- “Intervention is that act or action of coming between an addict and his or her substance. While an intervention may just be a conversation, it still has the characteristic of coming between an addict and his or her substance, and convincing that person to hang it up and go into rehabilitation.”
Drug and alcohol addiction is a serious affliction, and it kills over a hundred-thousand Americans every single year. With something as dangerous and as deadly as addiction, parents, spouses, children, and anyone else connected to an addict really cannot delay in staging an intervention.
Intervention exists as the single and only tool for convincing addicts who do not want to go to rehab and who are not at all willing to kick their habit to get them willing to give up their addictions. Most addicts at any one time actually do not want to stop abusing drugs and alcohol. That is the nature of the addiction. They truly believe that they are fine just the way they are.
This is where intervention comes into play, as intervention is the single most successful method for convincing an unwilling addict to go to treatment. Crisis interventions for drug and alcohol abuse are now becoming more needed and necessary than ever before mostly because there are more addicts than there ever were before.
Studies have shown in recent years that the current percentage of American drug and alcohol addicts who are completely unwilling to seek out drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation numbers as high as eighty to ninety percent. The false concept that one can just, “Deal with their addiction by themselves,” is more prevalent than ever before, making the vast majority of the addicted populace feel as though they do not need to go to rehab, and that they don’t really have a problem to begin with.
They do need rehab, though, and they need to be intervened on. Insist upon a successful, professional intervention process that utilizes a trained interventionist and see to it that your family member or loved one gets the help that they need.
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