Making Sure Addiction Intervention Is The Right Choice

You and your friends and family have decided to confront a loved one about his or her alcoholism. An intervention may be on the plate as part of this confrontation; but are you aware that there may be some consequences that could be undesirable as a result.

While many interventions are usually positive in the outcomes, there are other sides of this process to consider. In fact, because of the pain that this process can cause family members and friends of the alcoholic, many medical and mental health professionals have stopped doing interventions.

The optimal outcome of any intervention is to have the abuser enter a rehab or treatment facility. If the person refuses, becomes angry or leaves the intervention, this is obviously not a satisfactory result. This leaves those involved wondering what the next step in the process is to be. Do they have any other options? There may have been threats involved during the intervention such as divorce. Do they follow through on those?

There are no guarantees on the outcome of interventions, so much thought and research should be given to the possibility of a negative outcome and what will result should that happen. The person could accept the course of treatment but return to his or her substance abuse. What then?

An intervention is not a simple process. It is complex and difficult. A qualified individual should do it in professional and structured atmosphere. Questions should be posed to the professional that will be leading the intervention, so that family and friends can be comfortable with whatever outcome happens. You should ask about the professional’s training, licensing and general experience with interventions. Are they part of a treatment center or hospital? These professionals should, at a minimum, be licensed or certified by the proper licensing body.

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Encouraging Loved Ones To Get Help

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Although our family is very close and we do everything we can for each other, there are instances in which it becomes necessary to consider the well-being of a loved one. I recently learned that a family member was not doing well and was struggling with an addiction to drugs and alcohol. It was crushing to learn of this, not because of shame, but because of the lost opportunities. However, our family decided to work together to find a solution for our loved one.

It is understood that getting someone to agree to get help is difficult to do. Most people who are dealing with an addiction are unable to get through the ins and outs of the day, much less have to make decisions like this. Knowing the affection our family has for him, though, we were successful in reaching out to him. We were able to convince him that he needed help.

Although this is something that is difficult for anyone who is dealing with addiction, it is simply a matter of life and death. Without treatment, any type of addiction can lead you down a path to illness and disease. It also destroys your quality of life. This is why we reached out so quickly.

Our loved one will be participating in the services provided through LaPalomaTreatment.com. I found this company’s services through their website and was happy to see just how many benefits it has to offer. The goal here is not just to stop the addiction but to build a successful and healthy body and life. This is something everyone in our family wants to see our loved one achieve.

I encourage anyone that may be struggling to find ways to improve your health and life’s opportunities by getting the help you need for your addiction sooner rather than later. It will change your life.

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Filed Under: Psychology Behind Addiction Tagged With: , , ,

Addiction Recovery is a Lifetime Process

Whatever your poison of choice was, if you are in addiction recovery you are neither an ‘ex’ nor a ‘recovered’ addict; you are always recovering and you always will be doing so. As patients are told in rehabilitation programs, it is an ongoing, never-ending process of abstinence and growth.

Probably not many feel that is a deserved title. After all, if a patient has quit the abuse and is now back in the playing field, shouldn’t he or she have the right to declare him or herself to no longer be an alcoholic? Or, a drug addict?

It is important to understand the mentality of rehabilitation groups when they use the term that implies that rehabilitation is ongoing. The fact is, if a patient doesn’t believe it is, then the patient is only a step away from falling off the wagon.

Anytime that possibility exists, the patient is not recovered; and for a true addict, it will always exist. All it takes to start again is for a smoker to have one cigarette, for an alcoholic to take one drink, or for a junkie to get one fix.

It is critical that a patient understands this. As hard is it may be to think along these lines, it must be done. Dreaming that the day may come again when it will be safe to indulge is deadly.

The next time you get tempted to fall back into your abusive habit or start taking your drug of choice again, try to remember that addiction recovery is not just something you are going through today, but for the rest of your life.

Think about this: There is no reason to think that something like a dependency, which didn’t work out before, will work out this time. That has been said to be the definition of insanity.

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Addiction Counseling for Chemical Dependency

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There are a few common sayings you might here in substance abuse support groups, such as: “It works,” and “Keep coming back.” These are not just for the benefit of the cheerleaders in the group, but because the statements are true. The nature of chemical dependency is that it cannot be self-managed, but requires group support and addiction counseling for full and life-long recovery.

Addiction counseling can speed up the recovery process by light-years. Counselors are normally trained and certified, and are sometimes recovering addicts, as well. A patient has the benefit of all the counselor’s instruction and experience. Counselors can teach patients things about substance abuse and chemical dependency that the abusers may never learn on their own.

There is no question that once an addict goes through detoxification, the next step is ongoing rehabilitation. The question is, though, is the patient ready to open up, talk, listen and learn. That makes all the difference, because without the desire and willingness to do those things, the counseling is just a waste of time and words. The patient will soon be back to using.

Why Would a Patient Not Respond to Addiction Counseling?

There has probably never been a substance abuser or sufferer of chemical dependency born that didn’t have a lot of pride. Sometime, that is what brought the dependency on in the first place. Quite often, that same pride stops an addict from seeking help, or talking with someone about treatment.

However, it is important to recovery that the abuser understand that. To get help, a patient must be willing to get addiction counseling. Moreover, the patient must be willing to apply what is learned herself, the substance, and the addiction. This is the only way to make it down that long road to recovery without wavering; or running head on into a train.

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Using Methadone to Kick Heroin Addiction

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Heroin is a nasty addiction because it can take its toll on a person fast. Fortunately, there is help for heroin abuse and the faster an addict can get it, the better.

Anyone can become an addict. Most people don’t intend to get addicted to a substance, and they don’t believe that they will. Some drugs take a little more practice, and some can get a user hooked in a hurry, before they even realize it.

That is the way it is for a heroin addict. It puts a user in a euphoric state, and the mind and body have to keep returning to that feeling. If the user tries to quit, she goes through very painful withdrawal symptoms.

To help a user get relief from heroin addiction, many clinics put them on methadone. It eases the withdrawals and stops the cravings for heroin. The problem, though, is that methadone is also addictive, and the user may go through withdrawals from it as well when it comes time to quit it.

However, there are ways to help with that problem, too. That’s not to say that all of this is easy, just that there is help.

When the user gets off heroin and starts on the methadone, she will be given a certain dose of it. From that point, each day she will be given a little bit less until she is free of it altogether. Ideally, this should work.

There is the occasional case in which the user needs further help to avoid withdrawals from the meth. In that case, she will likely be given some other kind of opiate such as Vicodin.

For a practicing heroin addict, though, all of that can be dealt with farther down the road. The main thing now is to deal with the immediate addiction, and worry about the methadone later.

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Living with Addictive Behavior

Some people may not realize it when they are younger, but as they get older and put things together, they may realize that they suffer from having an addictive behavior. Certainly, that behavior can make life difficult, but the most important thing is that when a person discovers they have it, they are half way down the road to controlling it.

People who have an addictive personality can’t seem to get enough of anything they enjoy. Their addictions can be many, and they can happen in parallel or the person may bounce from one to the next.

Addictive behavior can be destructive for the sufferer. On the other hand, if the person realizes he is that way, there are ways he can learn to control it. It doesn’t have to be something that destroys his life.

People who live with this kind of problem have a variety of things that can become their targets. Some of those things are good and some are bad.

For example, a destructive person may find they have a food addiction. Normally you wouldn’t think of food as something to which a person can be addicted, but it is. The person can get a mental dependence on it. He wouldn’t have physical withdrawals from not eating, but it wouldn’t be pleasant for him.

Tobacco, alcohol, drugs and sex are all things that someone with an addictive behavior might turn to. Normally, addictions like this go hand in hand. That’s not to say that all smokers are drinkers, etc. Each addictive personality has his own list of things that turns him on.

On the other hand, a person can get addicted to positive things. Exercise is a good thing and can sometimes replace negative addictions. However, even exercise can be taken too far. It’s important to use an element of control and moderation in all things.

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Going to Detox to Get Off Alcohol

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Alcohol addiction is extremely hard to beat by yourself. It can be tough to stay away from it, but before you can work on that, you need to get off it completely. That might even mean you need to go to detox.

However, quitting can cause severe withdrawals. It’s no wonder an alcoholic can’t quit drinking when they suffer from the DTs every time they do. After all, all they have to do is start drinking again to make the DTs will go away.

Anyone who suffers from withdrawals from stopping drinking should consider going to detox. That is short for detoxification, but it is also said by abusers to mean a clinic or a hospital.

If a person is really sincere about quitting, that is the only way to go. In a clinic, they will usually put you on medication to alleviate the withdrawals. Most often, that is Librium; but it might also be valium or some form of it.

Librium works like a champ. It doesn’t make you high, but it does take away the pain and help you get through the withdrawals. It will also cause you to sleep a lot, which is a good thing when your body is healing.

The most important thing you can know about all this is this: If you are an alcoholic prone to going through severe withdrawals, don’t quit cold turkey. Not only is it too uncomfortable, it can kill you.

When your body is accustomed to having the booze in it, it needs to have it to function. When you take it away, the body malfunctions, and many things can go wrong.

If you need to quit and have a hard time with it, go to detox to get off the alcohol. They will help you get through it, and you will come out the other side a winner.

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Recovery After Rehab and Detox

People who are in recovery after withdrawing from drug addiction will experience an improvement in the physical cravings after rehab. However there are other aspects — temptations, cravings, psychological issues — that remain and can last for years. It’s a known fact that many addicts will experience a relapse.

People recovering from substance abuse need a lot of help to make a complete recovery. They need to have patience, resilience and support from family and friends.

One of the major reasons that an addict may relapse is his or her ability to develop or maintain relationships. Addiction cannot be overcome alone. Rebuilding and repairing relationships with friends and family is paramount to an addict’s recovery. The addict may have to repair damages caused by previous behaviors. In addition, the family and friends of the addict are going through a similar recovery process. They will need to establish respect and trust again, and this can take time. Spending time with loved ones is a mutually healing process.

Group therapy is believed to be a better way to recover than individual therapy. Because of the group setting, people within the group will receive support from their peers, as well as challenge each other. This commonality also builds a shared community.

Groups that can help an addict on the road to recovery include Narcotics Anonymous and Methadone Anonymous. These programs are based on the same philosophy as Alcoholics Anonymous. Methadone Anonymous use the same basics, but also recognizes the use of methadone or Suboxone as a recovery tool.

Family and loved ones of the addict will also face problems in dealing with the addiction. There are support groups as well for these people. Nar-Anon is perhaps the best known. It is branch off of Narcotics Anonymous. These groups allow family and friends to share stories and receive support and help.

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How Depression Affects Alcoholism and Vice-Versa

Suffering from long-term depression and bipolar disorder can make a person so desperate he will do most anything to get out of it. Not the least of these is drinking; which is very common in those with depression. In the beginning, it seems to help.

Self-medicating by using alcohol to ease depression is very common in mental disorder sufferers. In fact, it may be more uncommon to find a depressive who doesn’t drink or use drugs. It provides an element of relief for them.

Unfortunately, that is like trying to kill a bear with a fly swatter. Alcohol is a depressant, and you can’t treat depression with a depressant.

Consequently, the disorder gets worse and the sufferer often begins to drink even more to alleviate it. The cycle continues until the depressive not only has a psychological addiction to the alcohol, but a physical one. Now he has two problems with which he must deal: the mental disorder and the addiction.

Before any treatment for depression can be effective, the substance abuser must quit drinking permanently. Taking the prescribed antidepressants will be of no use as long as the abuser keeps drinking.

In addition to those problems, the scenario brings up another. When a person has been severely depressed and drinking heavily for a long time, the mind begins to think differently. Things that would have never made occurred to him before now start to seem appealing.

This can lead to a sufferer of depression and alcoholism to contemplate, and maybe go through with, suicide. All he wants is relief, and that might be the only way he sees in his clouded mind.

It is imperative to help someone become aware of the effects that alcohol has on depression. The patient cannot get better until the dependency is successfully treated. This will give the antidepressants a chance to work; and, the desire to self-medicate may go away.

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New Intervention Techniques for Addiction

When a loved ones alcohol or substance abuse has reached a level that is considered to be in crisis, the only remaining choice family and friends may have is intervention. And you and your family may be wondering just what an intervention is and what it entails.

An intervention is basically a course of action to confront the person with the reality of how his or her drinking or drug abuse is affecting those people around him or her. Family members and friends, and even employers and employees will be able to tell the person, in their own words, how that person’s drinking or drug use is causing issues and problems. The goal of the intervention is to get the person to enter a rehab or treatment program.

It may sound simple, but it is far from it. Professional interventions must be planned and implemented by substance abuse professionals who have knowledge and experience in this area. Many drug and alcohol treatment centers have these professionals on staff that can help with an intervention.

This confrontation is done within a controlled setting that is created to make sure the person being confronted will be more willing to listen to what is being said. Many times the alcoholic or drug abuser is blindsided or surprised by the intervention. However, new intervention methodology has the process including the person entering into a counseling situation with a professional several days before the intervention.

This new methodology lets the drug abuser or alcoholic realize that the people in his life are already discussing his or her problem. When finally asked to join the discussion, the person is less likely to feel blindsided or ambushed.

If there person does enter rehab or treatment, he or she is less likely to approach treatment with anger issues, which occurred quite frequently with the old intervention techniques.

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