I just recently started watching this show. I started watching about the time my AD came out of rehab and wanted to understand the addict's perspective better.
Until I started watching this show, I was 100% opposed to interventions. I always said that addicts will not ever quit until it was their idea to seek help.
Then I was faced with the situation of removing my AD from my home. I couldn't take it any more. She had kept my life in chaos for nearly 5 years. At that time she was in her second relapse with meth. She had quit 2 times before on her own, but I was always there as her "safety net" and she would relapse.
When I told her she could no longer live with me under any circumstances, she sought help through a state sponsored program (detox and 28 day rehab). We are still in the early stages, but I guess kicking her out was a form of intervention.
The program has given me a new perspective on intervention. I don't view the family remarks so much as ultimatums (I guess there are some mixed in there) as I do the family telling the addict what the addiction is doing to the family's lives and how they just can't take it any more (like what I did).
I do agree with others that the program does make people more aware of addiction and how all addicts are not just "bad people". I think it can also help those who have never been exposed to addiction understand what the families of addicts go through and how they can't just make the addict stop using.
I still wonder, though, what the percentage of success rate is when an addict is "backed into a corner" as opposed to seeking help through their own motivation. Any one out there know??