Is Intervention Right For My Family?
The short answer…is yes. But because nothing in addiction seems as simple as this, I will elaborate.
I am so thrilled that you have found my site and I want to welcome you with open arms to a place where you might find some clarity and confidence in making the life altering decisions that need to be made when navigating addiction.
What I will say about this illness is that it is quite possibly the only disease in the world that tells not only the individual suffering but also their loved ones that they do not have a disease.
Put it this way…if someone you loved had an illness that could be managed…wouldn’t you want to know immediately so that you could begin treatment?
Not with addiction….
My guess is that my website has not been your first attempt at some form of intervention between your loved one and their drug of choice.
Maybe there have been conversations in which your loved one has promised to “cut back” or “slow down”
Maybe they have promised to start seeing a counsellor or check out an A.A. meeting
Maybe they have told you that you’re “over reacting” and that everything is “under control”
…Sound familiar?
Whatever the details of your particular situation, what remains constant is the aversion, by those suffering and their loved ones, to see these behaviours as an illness and to seek treatment.
Instead we continue to rationalize and justify the lying, the stealing, the driving under the influence, the yelling, the arguing, the financial strain, and all the rest as “a phase they are going through”, or we contribute it to the “stress” and “pressure” of work, school, the kids, or whatever other variable calms our nerves in that moment.
But, like any untreated illness, the symptoms worsen over time and the result is larger and more frequent crisis.
So the question then does not become whether or not intervention is right for your family, but rather, how much am I willing to lose before I can no longer deny that my loved one is sick and I that am not a doctor…