What every family needs to know about drug and alcohol abuse intervention

As I move into my third decade working with families and their substance abusing loved ones, I continue to learn. My recent observations have led me to complete my training and now focus primarily on the process of drug and alcohol abuse intervention.

Most people, and many addiction professionals as well, have thought of this as just a way to get someone into treatment. What I’ve come to realize is that a properly executed, well-organized intervention serves several purposes.

Yes, getting a commitment from an addict or alcoholic to seek help is a goal, but it’s not the only one. Statistics show that a typical family will wait 5 to 7 years before confronting the chemical dependency problem-often longer. The skewed belief is that “if the person will just quit, all will be well.” I wish that were true. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past decade the drug rehab field has seen an expansion in programs offering services to those suffering from so-called “dual-diagnosis” or “co-occurring” disorders. In English, that means people who supposedly suffer from both substance abuse and mental illness.

There are several problems with this including the obvious fact that every substance abuser displays symptoms of some disorder or another. “Symptoms” are invariably produced when people are impaired for long periods of time, regardless of the impairment, and are much more apt to be situational than not. Read the rest of this entry »