Mike Loverde was 29 when his family intervened in his addiction to prescription painkillers. He remembers his parents driving him from Chicago, Illinois, to a rehab center in rural Indiana. He was crying because he wanted to get high.
Eight years later, Loverde is a counselor and director of program services at the Intervention Services Inc. branch outside Chicago.
When someone seems to have lost control of life, or has become a danger to himself or herself, family members or friends often try to intervene. Addictions to alcohol or drugs, or an untreated mental illness, are all reasons for concern.
Janet Jackson had reportedly tried in 2007 to stage an intervention for her brother Michael Jackson, who died of cardiac arrest June 25, two sources close to the Jackson family told CNN Wednesday.
Britney Spears' family intervened in 2008 through the courts, after a judge in her custody case cited her for "habitual, frequent, and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol." Her father, Jamie Spears, was granted temporary conservatorship over her.
How to intervene
Interventions can take many forms. Simply suggesting that a drug addict make an appointment for professional help may work, experts say.
Speaking openly, in a compassionate tone and without judgment, is an effective way to approach these conversations, said Patrick Hart, an intervention specialist in Seattle, Washington. The addiction or other problem should be viewed as an illness that deserves professional care, he said.
"Do not expect an addicted loved one to simply stop within their own right," Hart said. "Offer specified help."
A more formal, direct intervention involves family members confronting the person and encouraging the addict to seek help. Before this meeting, a professional interventionist typically meets with family members or friends of the addict to get a history of what's happened, said Dr. Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer at Hazelden Foundation.
Letters are a typical component of a direct intervention: The family members or friends will explain in writing that they are doing the intervention because they love the addict, and that they have observed specific troubling behaviors, as described in the letter, Seppala said.
Beforehand, the professional interventionist will try to prepare for the possibility that the addict will run away and, along with the family, create specific consequences if the person does not agree to go into treatment, Seppala said.
For example, if the person is married, an addict's spouse may not permit him or her back into the home, Seppala said. If the person is living with family, the relatives may kick that person out of the house, Loverde said.
The direct intervention model is not always the best method, experts say. Dr. Bankole Johnson, chairman of psychiatric medicine at the University of Virginia, said this confrontational approach leaves the addict somewhat humiliated and may reduce the benefits of rehab treatment for the person. If the intervention does not work, it creates a chasm between the family members and the addict, he said. HEPA Filters
Instead, it's best to treat the addiction as a medical problem and stress the physical consequences of it, Johnson said. Simply telling a person that he or she has a problem with alcohol or drugs is often not as effective as saying, "You seem to be having difficulties with your sleeping, or you seem to be having difficulties with your breathing," he said.
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