Recently, we helped a woman who called us wanting to know if she should stage an intervention for her sister, whom she suspected was abusing alcohol and drugs. We get that question a lot at Alpine Recovery Lodge. It’s difficult to watch a loved one struggle with addiction – and an intervention might seem like the best way to help.
Interventions can be effective, but they’re not always the best choice. In this post, we’ll explain what you need to know about interventions, so you can decide whether holding one is something you should do.
An intervention is a face-to-face meeting between a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol and the people who have been affected by the abuse. Most often, the attendees include family members and close friends of the person who is struggling with addiction.
Sometimes, the people who want to stage the intervention will enlist the help of a professional. It can be helpful to have someone there who understands addiction and can guide you through the process.
For that reason, it’s very important to understand when an intervention is appropriate and how to organize it.
An intervention may be the best way to get your loved one to confront their addiction and understand the ways it’s affected the people who love them. Let’s review some of the ways to tell if an intervention is appropriate for your loved one.
The first sign that an intervention may be appropriate is denial. If your loved one is abusing drugs or alcohol and attempts to address it casually have failed, it may be time to take a more formal approach and stage an intervention. Sometimes, being confronted with all the ways their behavior has affected people may help open the addict’s eyes to the reality of their situation.
Another potential sign that it’s time for an intervention is if the person you love has become a danger to themselves or others. For example, if they’ve been arrested for driving under the influence or if they’ve blacked out, they need help. These behaviors aren’t safe and may cause real and lasting harm.
It’s very common for people who love a person who’s struggled with addiction to enable their behavior in various ways. For example, you might:
An intervention may be a way to let your loved one know that the enabling behavior is going to stop. In other words, you can tell them that their addiction is going to have consequences. Sometimes, the threat of withdrawing assistance can be enough to get your loved one to admit that they need help.
Finally, you may want to consider a group intervention if you’ve tried talking to the person one-on-one and it hasn’t worked. It’s possible that the inclusion of other people might get through to them.
There are times when an intervention is not appropriate. It can be a scary and difficult thing to confront someone you love about their addiction. Let’s talk about some of the things that might mean that an intervention isn’t something you should consider.
The first and biggest issue that rules out intervention is mental illness. It’s very common for people who struggle with addiction to have a dual diagnosis of a mental disorder. In fact, 50% of people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol have a dual diagnosis.
The reason that mental illness can complicate an intervention is that the person being confronted may not have the emotional wherewithal to cope with the intervention. In some cases, an intervention with a professional who’s equipped to understand the dual diagnosis may be appropriate, but it’s not the time to try an intervention on your own.
Another thing that might rule out an intervention is your attitude about addiction and recovery. If any of these things apply to you (or to anyone who might be involved with the intervention), you should reconsider:
Do not attempt an intervention if the person you’re confronting has a history of violent behavior or suicidal ideation. Any kind of confrontation may be dangerous to them and to you. There are other ways to get help if you need to.
Finally, it’s very important to be prepared to follow through on any consequences you mention during the intervention. If you can’t stick to what you say, there’s no point in holding an intervention.
Now that you know when an intervention is appropriate and when it’s not, let’s review some of the things you can do to make your intervention more likely to succeed.
Even if you do everything correctly, an intervention may still fail. Be prepared for that and make sure that you stay true to whatever you said about ending enabling behavior. Sometimes, the person who’s struggling may come around after having some time to think about it.
Staging an intervention can be a positive thing if you understand the risks and do it properly. The key is to do your best to determine if the person you love might be receptive to a group intervention – and to follow the steps we’ve outlined here to increase your chances of success.
If you have a loved one who’s struggling with addiction, get in touch with us. We’re here to help.
Alpine Recovery Lodge