What do you do if you, or someone you know and love, has a drinking or drug problem? Dealing with addiction is a complicated matter, even for a trained professional. Too often, family members and individuals feel they can contain or control the situation, but the inevitable result is that the behavior only spins further out of control. This is why there are over 15 million addicts in America today.
As any recovering addict will tell you, it is rarely a one person job to achieve abstinence and stay that way. The underlying issues that contribute to addiction are like a mine-field for the untrained person. Not only do the most immediate concerns about getting abuse under control need to be addressed, but eventually the underlying psychological issues need to be addressed. If they’re not, relapse is bound to occur. The bottom line: Quitting drugs and alcohol is one of the most challenging and painfully difficult experiences a person can endure.
Only 12 percent of addicts who try to quit on their own succeed, compared to 75 percent who seek outside support and help. There is a lot of help available since addiction is a national epidemic and exists in every area of society, from the wealthy to the poor, and knows no racial boundaries. Years of someone’s valuable life can be lost to addiction. Years that could have been productive and secure, if only.
The type of help available ranges from self-help groups like AA and NA to in-patient treatment facilities. AA and NA are successful at providing support so long as someone keeps with the fellowship. In-patient treatment is an option that can be costly and sometimes impossible due to work and family responsibilities. In the middle is the outpatient treatment. Private outpatient treatment allows someone to continue to live while recovering and adds the professional training and customized help the addict needs that is not available in self-help support groups.
This type of counseling is private and discreet, can involve the family and education so everyone knows how to deal with what is going on and teach how to prevent relapse and even facilitate interventions. Interventions (like seen on A&E) are an important step in the recovery process and are sometimes the difference between life and death. However, no one should ever perform an intervention without first consulting a professional interventionist.
Addiction needs to be looked upon as a disease. And when someone has a disease, they need professional help to get well. If they don’t they could lose the best years from their lives and maybe lose their life altogether. Addiction, no matter what stage it is in, should never be underestimated.
Scott Spackey is a California Registered Addiction Specialist, Interventionist and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. For more information, please call 661-299-1966 or email Scott@Life-Mind.com .