Someone with an addiction may deny it for a long time or avoid seeking help out of shame. As a loved one, you have to watch helplessly as your partner, parent, child or friend sinks ever further into addiction. No matter how often you beg your loved one to accept professional help, the message does not get through.
A person with an addiction often seeks help only after losing everything: their partner, children, friends, job and home. Naturally, you do not want it to reach that point. By conducting an intervention together with an addiction specialist, you can prevent a great deal of suffering. But what exactly is an intervention?
An addiction is a form of compulsive behaviour that becomes increasingly difficult to control and eventually dominates the addicted person's entire life.
There are various addictions: food addictions, gaming, medication, collecting possessions, alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex. An intervention is possible for all these addictions.
During an intervention you enlist the help of an addiction specialist to confront a family member, friend, employee or colleague with their addiction. The aim is for them to accept help.
Drug addiction is a very serious addiction that causes severe damage to your body. It also causes major psychological problems because drugs affect the neurotransmitters in the brain. An intervention for drug addiction is therefore necessary to prevent further harm.
Stopping drug use involves physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms and is therefore extremely difficult. Persuading someone who is dependent on drugs to undergo addiction treatment is not easy. An interventionist is often a lived-experience specialist, as well as a professional, and achieves what you are usually unable to: opening your loved one's eyes and motivating them to address their addiction.
An intervention consists of the following steps:
An initial consultation with those requesting the intervention:
How long has your loved one been affected by the addiction, and how has it affected your life?
Planning the intervention:
When and how will the intervention take place?
Conducting the intervention:
Together with you and others involved, the addiction specialist will confront your loved one with the consequences of their addiction and convince them that accepting help will improve their life.
A mental healthcare intervention:
If your loved one accepts help, they will receive addiction treatment at a mental healthcare institution. A mental healthcare intervention may involve admission to an addiction treatment clinic or outpatient care.
Recovery coaching:
To prevent relapse after treatment.
Would you like to see exactly how an intervention works? Watch an episode of the RTL programme Verslaafd! with Peter van der Vorst and interventionist Peggy-Sue.
