Effective Strategies for Intervening With Chemical Dependency

Chemical dependency, whether it be dependency to alcohol or drugs, destroys lives every day. According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2003 approximately 332,046 people went to the emergency room with drug- or alcohol-related injuries or illnesses. When someone you love suffers from chemical dependence, the consequences go far beyond the individual sphere of the user. Children, spouses, family, friends and colleagues all feel the impact of chemical dependency in their lives.

Intervention

• The National Institute on Chemical Dependency states that intervention is an important step toward recovery. An intervention allows the family and friends of the addict to take action before the addict hits rock bottom and loses her job, her family and her friends. While the guidance of a medical professional is useful when preparing an intervention, The Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) offers useful advice on how to proceed. Most important is that those who attend the intervention (no more than six to eight) be people who are genuinely invested in the addict's life. The purpose of an intervention is to provoke what the Intervention Solutions specialists term a "caring crisis." Each member prepares a list of happy memories she has of the addict alongside a list of chemical related events that have hurt the addict. Through emphasizing the love the interventionists feel and the hurt they have experienced, the addict is forced to face the consequences of her actions.

  Showing the addict the consequences of her past actions, however, is not enough. The intervention must be a crisis. The addict should be pushed to enter treatment immediately, and if she refuses, immediate consequences should be laid bare and followed through.

Professional Assistance

• If staging an intervention doesn't seem like the best approach for your situation, hospitals, school guidance counselors and physicians can help in confronting and accessing an addict. These professionals are best suited for identifying the most appropriate treatment for the addiction.

Underlying Issues

• As Ohio State Medical Center points out, chemical dependency is often a result of a complex of factors developing from genetic predispositions and environmental influences. Psychological problems can lead to chemical dependency and failure to treat an underlying psychological problem means a failure to truly address the disease.

Resistance

• Inevitably, intervening can be a painful process for all those involved, and resistance to treatment is a typical response for addicts. Nonetheless, ithe PDFA states that most addicts who receive treatment do so due to some kind of external pressure, whether that be spousal, familial or legal. Successful treatment is not necessarily dependent on eager participation from the addict. Instead, the tools treatment provides give the addict the strength to eagerly fight the addiction.