On the subject of interventions.
I am removing my anonymity for this one, as it is relevant to the topic. I worked as a therapist in the field of addictions for many years before retiring. Mostly in the larger hospitals in California, with a number of small methadone clinics, ER's and occasional volunteer work. I am still licensed in the state of California, but I no longer practice.
I have done hundreds of interventions. Of all kinds. Here's the "Cliff Notes".
- What you see on television is _far_ from reality. Just ignore that.
- The purpose of an intervention is to "raise the bottom" for the addict in order to prevent the really nasty consequences such as death, insanity or life incarceration.
- For the purpose of this topic a "bottom" is a moment when the addict experiences "pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization" as a result of the damage they have done to their lives.
- In order to reach that bottom it is necessary to "pierce the veil" of denial.
- The veil is pierced by gathering all the enablers, raising _their_ bottoms ( yes, enablers have bottoms too ) and backing them all into a corner so they have no other choice but to go along with the intervention.
- Then you line up all the enablers, and construct a trap for the addict where the only way out is _thru_ a program of recovery.
That's it. Nowhere in the above is there any kind of guarantee of success. None. Ultimately, it's the last gasp of a loving family who has run out of options. Here's the caveats:
- It is incredibly difficult to get _all_ the enablers to cooperate. And when you do, it's even harder to keep them from backing out at the worst possible time.
- If you manage to get it all to work, you get only _once_ chance. If any of the enablers blows it the rest of them will _never_ go for it again.
- The more work it takes to get them all to agree the less likely it is to work out.
- It works out _much_ easier if you do it the other way around. Wait for the addict to end up in the ICU, or federal pen and when _they_ hit bottom get the addict to help you do interventions on all the enablers. That works like a charm.
A full explanation is a semester long course at the graduate level in any good college. I don't do that anymore but most any of the larger state or private psych schools will have them.
Mike
Moderator, SR.