Topic: Intervention Series

The terms of agreement that emerge from an intervention must be the right terms, likely to result in success and amenable to all parties.

Families often think it’s the addict or alcoholic’s emotions that need to be overcome to succeed. But in fact, we need to start by dealing with our own feelings.

They believe that by demonstrating you can’t make them do anything against their will, they’ll convince you that confrontation is useless.

The behaviors of alcoholics and addicts are so predictable because the disease follows a certain progression.

Intervention is about achieving a very specific time-limited objective: an addict or alcoholic who agrees to participate in treatment.

An Interventionist will be trying to make sure they have all of the ‘pieces of the puzzle’

The addict may have tried to control drinking or drug use many times, and failed. This experience leads him to conclude that he can’t change.

It’s an essential truth that people with alcoholism think about changing for a long, long time before they seriously attempt it. They’re ambivalent about change, and struggle to make up their minds.

If we do nothing, the alcoholic person will probably wind up, at some point in the progression of addiction, in exactly the circumstances we fear.

Intervention can be quite dramatic (that’s why it makes for good TV), but it’s really the intelligent application of leverage that produces the desired result.