Intervention (the show)
 

I'm sure this has come up here before, but does anyone watch it?

My usual ritual used to be to get pretty bombed on Sunday night, and watch it after my wife and kids went to bed - and consequently cry my eyes out in the dark by myself. I think I cried mostly because it was touching (yet painful) to see all of these people pull together for one person's needs - and wonder why no one in my family or circle of friends had ever cared enough about me to take it to that level. Anyways...

So I watched it sober last night. I still cried quite a bit, but it was because I couldn't imagine that I was that out of control & would do the things that the subject was doing...yet I saw so much of myself and my behavior in her (even though I'm a guy). It scares me to think that I am that much of an a**hole when I drink, though I don't doubt it.

This is going to be a long, hard road. Thanks for reading.

dhf

I watched it on Sunday night because it was a new show. It was very good and very sad.

It was interesting because they pointed out that this was her second intervention. She had one the year before and had left the treatment centre after two days. And, this time, she didn't even make it to the rehab centre.

Yes, I know. And I felt like it was more because her new boyfriend talked her out of it (off camera), because he didn't want to lose a sure thing (it appeared as though he was using her for sex to me).

If he really cared about her, he would have sent her off to that center. Being an ex-alcoholic himself, I'm sure he would have realized the value that was being offered to her for free.

But yes, a very sad show. I really wonder if she is still alive at this point.

i've watched the show off and on, and i think that is the first time i've ever seen anybody actually refuse treatment! she didn't really seem to care what her family and friends had to say. but i think you have to want to go, if people try to force you , it just doesnt' work. the company i worked with 2 years ago said going to treatment was the only way to keep my job. they were very supportive, and looking back on it, i should have gone, but i wasn't ready. i went to outpatient and AA for about 1 week and decided it wasn't for me, and gave up a good job because "no one is gonna tell me what to do! and i'll drink if i want!"
and her boyfriend was just a total enabler, which i'm sure is the reason she was with him. they had only been together for 2 weeks!

FallGirl

You know FallGirl, I'm not sure she didn't care what her family thought or said. At the very end of the show it said, she had tried repeatedly to contact them, but they refused. She probably thought they would always be there for her.

that's true - my impression was that she wanted probably wanted money or a place to stay - something like that. they had said in the show that her family/friends had done an intervention before, with the same rule - if she didn't go to treatment they would cut her off. but after a while they started talking with her again - i hope they don't enable her anymore and she gets some help. i think she needs to get away from that guy though...

FallGirl

Hi,

I've watched Intervention a couple of times. Its quite popular to show it to people in rehabs (where I first encountered it, heheh), but as I've lived through the nightmare of active alcoholism and drug addiction, and made it out alive, I have no desire to watch it all re enacted on tv. All I can do is take care of myself, and try to live a useful, productive, happy life, and let it spread out to those around me. I cannot learn anything from the tv show Intervention, save what not to do, which I have already learned the hard way. Intervention's bread and butter is the fact that they show alkies and addicts in the throes of active addiction: binge drinking, smoking crack, shooting dope, for the entertainment of the viewer. If the show featured none of those more graphic elements, and focused entirely on alcoholics and addicts actively pursuing recovery, post-intervention, it would be nowhere near as popular.

Pity is a useless and self-serving emotion, in my opinion, compassion, however, is not. Compassion for one's self, which is sparked by understanding, leads to compassion for others. Compassion leads to action.

Be Well,
Joe

i think the show is helpful to someone like me. when i turned it on sunday night i was really struggling, i really wanted a drink and i was totally pissed off at my husband because he didn't say - "go ahead". the show was a glaring reminder of what i was giving up, and why i wanted to be sober. they showed one scene where the woman was passed out on her couch, and her two dogs were standing by her just looking. it reminds me what a horrible, neglectful owner i've been to my poor dog for the past few years because i couldn't even get my drunk a*s up to take him for a walk!

FallGirl

I love watching it. I can see myself in every addict on the shows, no matter what the addiction. It really amazes me that I can see myself in, say, someone who is anorexic or addicted to gambling since my DOC is alcohol, but I do.

Some times I cry when I watch it. Some times I laugh. Some times, often, I learn something new about me.

yes, I try to watch it every Sunday night. This last one really hit home with me because my drink of choice was wine. It was so sad -- even her dogs knew she was in trouble. It was sad to see she didn't go in rehab. Anyone want to bet that the new boyfriend is drinking again? How can anyone in recovery sit by and watch that trainwreck? My heart hurts for her.

That really struck home with me too. I don't want to think I ever neglected my dogs, but I know there were days when they were certainly short-changed.

I watch the show every week as well. I think it is a good reminder of where I don't want to be. It keeps me grounded. She was me, but I was worse. Yeah, I like to remember how far I have come and how badly I do not want to live that life style ever again.

I can't watch this show.

It's too depressing.

Plus, it makes me think about drugs, and then I start craving them.

I'm better off staying busy or watching CSI.

I've watched the show several times. Some of the people featured seem to be real hardcases. I don't like to be judgemental, but I know I would never get to the point that some of these people reach without seeking help. But then again the bottom is different for everyone, so perhaps some people really do need intervention to breakthrough. The interventionists don't really have that good of a reputation in our society, because they apparently do interventions on behaviors that aren't always illegal, like cult-religious, gambling, or other behaviors. But in the case of chemical dependency I believe it's warranted sometimes.

I love that show, i record it every week so i don't miss anything. And like you DHF i would sit there drunk watching this show, feeling sorry for myself because "nobody cares that much about me" and sometimes crying. The downside for me though is i never knew anything about some of the drugs these people are using......and i find myself thinking "hmmm.......i could see myself smoking crack or meth". Or i crave alcohol when i watch these people drinking their beers or JD and i kinda want to be out of control to see if anyone really does care about me. But then there are times when i watch the people stoned out of their minds and their hitting their nose off the mirror and i think "why would they want to be that wasted".