The 12 Palms rehab blog publishes weekly addiction related articles directed to help and guide families and addicts on the addiction treatment and recovery.
An intervention can be a powerful tool a family can use to encourage someone who is abusing drugs or alcohol to seek the treatment they need. However, a poorly executed intervention can actually make matters worse. Here are 5 things not to do during an intervention.
The impact of addiction is felt well beyond the person struggling with the disease. Family, friends, co-workers, and even neighbors can be impacted by the many problems addiction brings.
Lies, violence, legal troubles and more bring hardships to those around you -- and many times those with loved ones abusing drugs or alcohol suffer a wide range of emotions. Feelings of guilt, anger and everything in between can be especially difficult for those closest to you -- such as parents, siblings, spouse or partner, and most of all, children. One family member addicted to alcohol and drugs means the whole family suffers.
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What can you do when someone you love is abusing alcohol or drugs? At first, you may just want to wish the problem away. But addiction is a chronic and progressive disease, and doing nothing can be a dangerous decision. For many, confronting the problem means confronting an addicted loved one – and an intervention is a way to show just how devastating their problem is to family and friends.
An intervention is a professionally directed process resulting in a face to face meeting of family members and friends of someone who abusing alcohol or drugs. Intervention helps the person make the connection between his/her substance abuse and the problems he/she are having in life. The goal of intervention is for him/her to accept help -- and begin the road to recovery.
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Why do some people become addicted, while others do not? Studies of identical twins indicate that as much as half of an individual's risk of becoming addicted to alcohol, or other drugs depends on his or her genes. Pinning down the biological basis for this risk is an important avenue of research for scientists trying to solve the problem of drug abuse.
Genes – functional units that make up our DNA – provide the information that directs our bodies' basic cellular activities. Research on the human genome has shown that the DNA sequences of any two individuals are 99.9% identical. However, that 0.1% variation is profoundly important, contributing to visible differences, like height and hair color, and to invisible differences, such as increased risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes…and addiction.
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“If someone wants to get sober, this is a wonderful place to do it...12 Palms saved my life.”
— Fred
“When an addict is finally willing to admit that they are completely powerless over their addiction and need help recovering, they are left with a choice.”
