Drug Addiction Facts

 image: young lady depressed from drug abuse  image: lots of drugs and pills  image: young man with headache from taking drugs  image: young lady suffering from a bad drug trip

 

Drug Addiction Intervention

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image: doctor checking on status of drug addictIn a drug addiction intervention, individuals who are addicted to drugs are confronted by family members and friends in connection with their drug abusive behavior and how their abusive and excessive drug abuse has affected virtually everyone around him or her.

Drug addiction interventions should be carefully planned and orchestrated by qualified substance abuse counselors who are experienced in such procedures.

The bottom line is this:  the most important purpose of a drug addiction intervention is to get the addict to seek professional drug addiction rehab.

Drug Addiction Intervention:  A Broad Overview

Scientific investigation reveals that one way of coping with drug addiction is to conduct an intervention.  What is a drug addiction intervention?

To a significant degree, an intervention can be viewed as a step in the drug addiction treatment process in which the drug abuser or addict is talked to pertaining his or her substance abuse and how his or her chronic, abusive, and reckless drug abuse has affected family members, friends, neighbors, and possibly co-workers. 

Stated in a different way, a drug addiction intervention is a meeting involving the addict, family members, friends, conceivably an employer, along with a mental health professional or a dependency intervention specialist.  In this meeting, the family members and friends, under the supervision and management of the healthcare or mental health professional, express their concern regarding the addict's drug addiction and strongly "encourage" the addict to get competent therapy.

Frequently in an intervention, family members and friends tell the addict in their own words how they are concerned about the addict and how his or her drug abuse has created frustration, fear, anxiety, and other challenges in their lives.  The objective of a drug addiction intervention centers around the drug addict listening to what has been said and then accepting the fact that he or she needs quality drug addiction rehab.

It is imperative to state that drug addiction interventions are customarily resorted to when all other choices have been exhausted in an attempt to help an individual conquer his or her drug addiction.

Drug Addiction Interventions Can Fail

Substance abuse scientific studies reveal the fact that more than a few drug abuse and chemical dependency counseling centers have stopped doing drug addiction interventions because they sometimes fail. Stated more specifically, when drug addiction interventions are not successful, a fact that has to be reflected upon, the family can actually be torn apart even further due to the harmful and disruptive feelings with reference to the failed intervention.

It must be accentuated that this is not an insignificant issue for a family already on the edge of devastation due to the addictive behavior of a family member.  The chance for failure on the topic of drug addiction interventions calls attention to the need to employ a substance abuse professional who has a verified track record of success.

The portion of AIDS cases related to drug abuse has steadily increased over the course of the past two decades in the United States and intravenous drug use continues to be a major contributing cause to the increase in new cases.

Why Do Drug Addiction Interventions Fail?

What are the key reasons that drug addiction interventions fail?  First, the intervention may fail if the addict doesn't follow the therapy procedure both during and after formal treatment.

Second, in view of the fact that his or her reasoning and thinking abilities and psychological stability may be inhibited due to advanced addiction, the drug addict may simply leave the intervention session, meaning that the well-intentioned family members will have to handle the failed intervention in addition to the rest of their difficulties.

The third explanation why drug addiction interventions may prove to be unsuccessful is the fact that the drug dependent person may not be ready for treatment at this time. Stated more precisely, some therapists believe that drug addiction interventions may lack a proven long-term track record due to the fact that numerous individuals who are drug dependent are not able to receive therapy until they get to the point in their lives when they themselves make this decision.

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of buprenorphine (subutex and suboxone) for treating addiction to heroin or other opioids, including prescription painkillers, on October 8, 2002, marks a milestone in the National Institute on Drug Abuse medication development program.

To state the case more forcefully, according to this view, individuals who are dependent on drugs can't be helped until they seek therapy on their own. Oddly, despite the fact that the intervention helps put people who are dependent on drugs in a more receptive frame of mind and actually helps them decide that they need treatment, the mere fact that the intervention took place may lead to mistrust, resentment, and ill feelings down the road.

And fourth, drug addiction interventions can fail when a family either chooses to undertake an intervention without the leadership and support of an addiction intervention professional or if the intervention consultant is unskilled.

Personal, social and perhaps legal problems that would cause any reasonable person to conclude that their drinking habits should be curtailed or eliminated, do not seem to have much effect on those who are alcohol dependent, at least not in the long run.

When Do Drug Addiction Interventions Succeed?

Research has proven that the best possible time for a drug dependency intervention is following a consequential event, such as an arrest for a DUI, when an addict has been caught stealing something of value, or when the drug dependent individual is caught lying pertaining to something of importance.  In these circumstances, the drug addict is more likely to be remorseful or to encounter guilt. Though this may seem clear as crystal, it needs to be declared that it is also critical that the addict is sober at the time of the intervention.

It is interesting to underline the fact, nonetheless, that according to drug addiction scientific inquiry, men are more likely to remain in drug addiction therapy if they are there due to "suggestions" or threats from their employers. This finding seems to show that intervention that includes an interchange by employers can be effectual in some circumstances.  To be sure, according to one study, employees who were chronic drug abusers displayed noticeable improvement in controlling their drug abuse and in their job performance during the months immediately following an intervention to confront their drug abuse that was negatively affecting their work.

In brief, it can be affirmed that some drug addiction interventions have been shown to assist the process of motivating the addict to accept professional counseling for his or her drug addiction.  And if done with careful planning and with the administration of a substance abuse intervention expert, the chances of success are greatly increased.

Drug addiction can be effectively treated with behavior-based therapies and, for some drugs, such as heroin or nicotine, with medications. Additionally, treatment reduces the risk of HIV infection and can improve the prospects for employment.

Drug Addiction Intervention:  Conclusion

image: doctor going over test results for drug addictAn intervention is a kind of confrontation in which a group of concerned people, like family members and friends along with a mental health or a dependency intervention specialist, have a meeting with a drug-addicted individual.  In this meeting, the family members and friends, under the guidance and leadership of the intervention consultant, state their concern over the addict’s drug abuse and strongly "encourage" him or her to get competent treatment.

Even though drug interventions should be undertaken as a "last resort" and have been known to boomerang and result in resentment, ill feelings, and mistrust, if done with careful planning and with the guidance of a substance abuse intervention professional, the chances of an effectual drug addiction intervention are extensively enhanced.

Drug treatment during and after imprisonment not only increases the number of people who are drug-free, but also increases the number of people who are arrest-free.

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According to substance abuse statistics, all illegal drugs combined kill fewer than 20,000 Americans per year.  This is a small percentage of the approximately 135,000 people who are killed every year by alcohol and tobacco.  The negative outcomes related to alcohol and drugs abuse costs American society around $46 billion dollars each year.

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