Tough Love Approach...
I've been watching a lot of the A+E intervention episodes on You Tube lately and just got done watching "A+E after treatment". This was where they brought back past participants to see how well they were doing and to field questions from the audience. At the time they had done 97 interventions, of that 2 didn't go to treatment leaving 95 who did go to rehab. So of the 95 who went to rehab 71 were still sober meaning they had a success rate of about 75%. Anyone who has looked at the actual statistics for rehabs knows that 75% success is unheard of in the industry.
But anyhow back to the topic, the standard approach of the intervention seems to be a "Tough Love" approach. The family threatens to cut off all contact and financial support if the person refuses treatment. Many times the person is told they could no longer live in the house and would be out on the streets if they refuse. The ultimatum seems to leave little wiggle room and the person usually surrenders to treatment.
Now I have a case in point, I have a neighbor who has a 28 year old son who is an alcoholic and drug user. She asked me to talk to him and he wants nothing to do with AA nor does he have any desire to change his ways. His mother and stepfather are trying the "Tough Love" approach by calling the cops or locking him out of the house when he comes home drunk. The cops were also called last week because he got into a physical altercation with the step father. In his case this approach doesn't seem to be helping.
Having been through the wringer with alcohol myself I thought I would have some sage advice to give him but apparently I was wrong. Everything I said to him went in one ear and out the other, he wants nothing to do with AA or any other support group or any professional help. What can you really do in a case like this? Is "Tough Love" the best way to go or will that only drive them further apart?