Originally Posted by
prodigal 
In the State of Arizona, interventions do not mean squat. The addict MUST say he wants to go to detox/rehab. In this state, an addict has the right to drink or drug himself to death - period. If I staged an intervention at this point, AH would not understand what was being said to him anyway.
He has been hospitalized THREE times this past week; once by me and twice by the sheriff's department. That's how bad off he is. A psychiatrist and psychologist both admitted AH is incompetent; however, he does not fall under "Title 36" of this state to be adjudged incompetent. Why? Because his dementia is due to acute alcohol addiction, not an actual mental illness.
I believe interventions can work. A competent interventionist CAN be successful. In my case, it would be a crap shoot. The law will protect my AH's right to kill himself. At this point, down to 130 lbs. (he's 5'8") and covered in bruises, welts, and cuts, and babbling incoherently at all hours, I don't think intervention is an option. Sad, but true ...
Interventions usually present a choice for the addicted person to make; basically it is a gathering of people who care that come together to state their love for the person and then tell them the boundaries that they have decided to put into practice in their own lives if the A does not decide to go into recovery. It is a group of important people who decide they no longer want to help contribute to the disease and they come together in a united front....that helps break the denial of the problem. No one can "force" them into treatment or make them stay...let alone make them want to work at it. However, if someone with leverage (ie boss and treatment or terminate job AND the boundaries are held!) then sometimes the person may actually go to treatment,become sober and start to listen to the information and then decide to participate. It "raises the bottom" sometimes for some lucky people. Eventually it is the consequences that make people turn to recovery.....this is a variation of the spiral,etc...jmho.
If the person decides not to seek treatment,so be it. The person then lives by the boundaries that they have decided work best to protect them from the harm of the addiction and the know that they have made clear what they are, and why they are the way they are and give the addict's problem back to him/her where it belongs.
They are evidently best when they still have "things to lose".