The most challenging job of any intervention counselor or addiction professional is educating families on what is the right way to handle the addiction. Over the years our biggest challenges have been professionals, not necessarily in the field of addiction, believing that they have the solutions to you or your loved ones addiction problems. Most of the information on these pages is not based on opinion but rather repetitive facts we see day in and day out. Families call countless treatment centers, health care professionals such as doctors and psychiatrists and even attorneys for advice on what to do next. Families are unaware that like an addict or an alcoholic they also seek a comfortable solution by taking the option and advice that seems the most painless. Addicts talk their families into things like methadone and suboxone clinics and alcoholics and other addicts talk their loved ones into meetings and outpatient programs instead of inpatient treatment. It is hard to comprehend sometimes when speaking to families day after day that they are being told the same thing over and over again, given bad information, by professionals and they are no closer to a solution than when they started. The worst information a family can be given is that they have to wait for their loved one to want help or hit bottom; this just simply is not true.
It is almost impossible for us to get a call for someone who is an addict or alcoholic that is not on some form of medication for depression, bi-polar or some other mental issues. It is not that mental issues don’t exist or in some cases medication can’t help, but most everyone with a substance abuse progblem is diagnosed before they are off the drugs or alcohol and without recovery. Many of the people we have intervened on and brought to treatment that were diagnosed for disorders prior to treatment did not have a disorder nor did they need the medications after coming of all the drugs and getting sober in an inpatient center. The point is that it doesn’t make sense how you can assess and apply a disorder to someone while under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol. The problem is not the drugs or alcoholic, it is the addict and alcoholic suffering from underlying issues and self medicating their pain; other drugs are almost never an immediate effective solution.