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Alcoholism
Can an Intervention Help Your Addicted Loved One?
The answer is more complicated than you might think.
Updated August 21, 2023 Reviewed by Kaja Perina
Key points
- Interventions disrupt a pattern of substance use.
- There are many types of interventions.
- Interventions can prompt addicts to seek treatment.
Lynn was an active alcoholic for many years. During that time, she alienated a lot of people and became “an impossible mother.” She says, “I was totally obnoxious when I was drunk. My son and I had what surely must have been one of the worst relationships in the history of parenthood.”
Fortunately, Lynn had friends who recognized that she needed help. They staged an intervention, which she describes as a “dreadful experience.” She recognized her friends’ love and concern, but at the same time she was horrified. “I resented everyone terribly,” she recalls. The intervention seemingly backfired.
But that was not the end of the story. A few days later, one of her friends showed up at her door. He urged her to enter a five-week outpatient alcohol-abatement program and helped her sign up for services. “Oddly enough, once my head was pointed in that direction, quitting drinking was easy, and the behaviors fell away like so much rain,” says Lynn. “I think interventions can be helpful, but I believe follow-up is necessary.”
What does an intervention look like?
Since most addicted people are in denial about the depth of their problem, interventions are intended to break through denial and encourage the addict to get treatment. But as Lynn’s story illustrates, interventions can trigger intense emotions and produce mixed results. There are no guarantees.
Still, if someone you love is struggling with addiction, it could be well worth the effort to try some type of intervention. Here are three things to know before you do.
1. Informal interventions can be useful. Not every intervention needs to be a staged, formal event. Informal interventions such as a change of routine or an “I statement” observation can make a difference. A recovering alcoholic remembered a friend saying, “I have observed that your drinking is causing problems.” Although he heard little else that she had to say, that remark stayed with him. It raised his level of awareness, and he eventually sought recovery.
A counselor recalled that some boys in a group home were in the habit of pooling their weekly allowance and buying large quantities of pot and alcohol on the weekend. Several ended up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Since the allowance was state mandated, counselors could not withhold it. Instead, they moved allowance time from Friday afternoons to Monday mornings. By the time weekends came, most of the money had been spent on candy and other incidentals. “By disrupting the pattern, we got a different outcome,” the counselor observed.
Family members can do informal interventions by changing their usual way of interacting with their loved one. If they are in the habit of nagging, scolding, or arguing, they can try to detach or find neutral responses that change the dynamics of the relationship. They can build stronger boundaries and avoid enabling. Even small changes can have a positive effect.
2. Disruptive events are a form of intervention. Events that disrupt the pattern of substance use, such as getting arrested for driving while intoxicated, going to jail, or getting fired from a job, have the potential to break through denial. Instead of trying to “rescue” their loved ones, family members can allow them to face the consequences of their actions.
Involuntarily commitment to a treatment facility is another type of disruptive intervention, commonly referred to as being “sectioned.” In this case, families turn to the court system to force their loved one into treatment. As one mother explained, “My daughter overdosed twice in twenty-four hours. Getting her committed was the only way I could keep her alive.”
Addicted individuals may not get better after disruptive events—they may even get worse—but at the very least these types of events bring them face-to-face with problems caused by addiction. This reality check can sometimes prompt them to seek help.
3. Formal interventions must be carefully planned. Often staged with assistance from an addiction treatment professional, formal interventions usually consist of several steps: 1) the organizer recruits participants in the event and arranges some type of follow-up treatment; 2) participants write a letter that expresses affection, concern, and clear, specific observations about the negative impact of substances on the individual’s life; 3) participants read their letters out loud during a rehearsal to help them maintain a tone of objectivity during the actual event; 4) participants gather at a meeting place, taking the target of the intervention by surprise and at a time when the individual is not likely to be under the influence of alcohol or other drugs; 5) participants read their letters, taking care to maintain a tone of love and concern; and 6) the addicted individual is informed that treatment has been arranged and is urged to enter the treatment facility.
Although no type of intervention is guaranteed to bring about positive results, interventions can plant seeds of awareness that later blossom into a desire for recovery. Far from being a confrontational or negative experience, interventions can be meaningful opportunities for friends and family to express their concern, support, and love.
