I think ol' Phil has a semantics problem. Not everyone hits the gutter before they can start to make a comeback, but everyone does hit their own personal bottom. That is simply the point below which THEY are not willing to sink, and that is different for everybody.
I found it very interesting when I read the recap of the show on his website (I couldn't watch yesterday), the way he outlined the intervention program. In spite of that dramatic statement meant to lure in viewers "The Biggest Myth... etc.", inside the outline he (or whoever wrote it) is very careful to talk about preparing the family for it NOT to work.
It certainly makes sense that an intervention scene could be a "bottom" for some people. I mean... if you have ANY self esteem left at all... how embarassing. How shocking to know that's what everyone thinks of you. I hope this television appearance will do it for this young man. There's something to be said for public humiliation. It also makes sense that a few weeks away from the drug in a rehab, would clear the mind and make the person more receptive to recovery information. Yet just as many people relapse who have walked out of rehab centers as have used AA or tried to do it all on their own.
I just hope if anyone here is thinking about staging an intervention, they are also thinking of getting a professional to help them. There are so many ways they can go wrong. NOT just that the addict will not go for treatment, but damage to the self esteem of the interveeners and actually increasing the psychological leverage the addict has in the household.
www.intervention.com
Phil has another day to cover this subject. Lots of times he makes those big statements to lure us in only to turn around and show us the flip side. It's a marketing technique. He's getting people to watch his show. Somewhere on this site is a post that lists the relapse rate after a "sucessful" intervention (one that results in getting the addict into treatment). I haven't been able to find it yet, and I particularly wanted to because the writer cited the source they found it in. At any rate, as I recall the rate was very close to the same as the relapse rate for everybody else. So at least we know it doesn't HURT. Doesn't hurt the addict, anyway.
An important thing to remember though, is that the decision to become sober or clean always, always rests inside the user. An intervention is an attempt to present them with information and support in the hope that they can be swayed with reason and love. That's it. It's also important to remember that if it doesn't work, it's not the family's fault.
Smoke