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Drug Addiction Interventions

Whilst the most conventional ways for a drug addict to receive treatment usually occurs within the confines of a clinic or rehabilitation centre, it is often forgotten that the first step to recovery is the addict admitting to themselves that they have a problem. More often than not, the idea is introduced via friends and family in an ‘intervention’.

The idea is wholly American in flavour: stateside, the concept of intervening in a friends or family members’ life has reached such a fever pitch that it has become big business: professional ‘interventionists’ charge high fees in promising to relieve loved ones’ of the pains of addiction. A policy of ‘tough love’ is extolled if an initial confrontation fails to bear fruit: the addict is threatened by family and friends with a breaking of ties. A complete severance of connections is hoped will be shocking enough to trigger a reaction in the addict to willingly enter counselling and rehabilitation. On the surface, this seems to work: US intervention provider InterventionMD claims a ‘success rate’ of 95%. By involving the addict’s network of family and friends, the familial and social link is retained and the addict feels they are not being abandoned by their circle of friends.

However, the ‘intervention’ technique fails to account for the full demographic of drug abusers. Many of the addicts who are in the most need of treatment have lost their social support networks long ago: possibly abandoned by any conventional family or friends, they often may only be in communication with have fellow addicts. Thus, the intervention process rejects the most vulnerable of drug abusers. The psychotherapy community also has it’s doubts about the effectiveness of interventions, rightly pointing out that the ‘professionals’ proffering their services on websites may not be as well trained as dedicated drug counsellors.

Debate rages on about the intervention technique, and whether or not it will be accepted in the full gamut of drug rehabilitation techniques remains to be seen. Clearly, its success rate is somewhat limited in the most helpless addiction cases. It does seem to be effective within the less socially-deprived strata of the drug addict community though, and so remains an effective means of address in those particular cases.