How to Talk so Someone With Addiction Will Listen (families)

if some members of your team have become hesitant, mired in doubt, lost their motivation– then you want the professional with you.

It was never really about the job, or an article in Time, or anything except his own fervent desire to keep drinking and prove everyone else wrong.

There’s plenty of evidence that treatment for depression works, and that people with co-occurring disorders can and do get a whole lot better.

It makes us uncomfortable to acknowledge that degree of helplessness.

This is really about a continuous process of change. The unifying force is the addict’s subjective experience.

As addiction progresses, the addict or alcoholic grows away from the larger culture from whence they came.

Instead of becoming inspired to turn his life around, he seems to have figured, “OK, crisis averted. Let’s go get a beer.”

There’s hope. Partly because the effects of repeated treatments tend to be cumulative — most patients are learning something important from each.

Always good to collect opinions from others. But when you feel you’ve talked to enough people, try applying ‘impact analysis’ to the issue.

It’s not really surprise or shock that convinces the alcoholic to seek treatment. It’s a combination of influence and leverage.