But the disintegration of Charlie Sheen is not new and sadly not unique. It appears that his grandiose statements, the erratic behavior, and the excuse-making are all symptoms of the disease of addiction, and sadly addiction is not new and not unique. People across the US are suffering with addictions every day, and sadly their lives have become unmanageable.

Charlie Sheen’s bizarre rants (tiger blood anyone?) may also be symptoms of a mental disorder. The combination of addiction and mental illness can be devastating to all around. Millions of American’s have family members and friends, who just like Charlie Sheen, have seemed to have “lost it.” They have deteriorated and their life has in a sense fallen apart.

There is hope.  It is possible for anyone suffering from addiction, from your loved one to Charlie Sheen, to recover. What an addict needs is help. This help may appear meddling like asking them to go to a doctor or to rehab. This help may appear cruel, like cutting off financial support, kicking them out of your house, or firing them from work. Or this help may appear harsh like calling the police. But be clear anyone who is still in the grips of addiction needs help.

This hope is the message I want people hear: There is hope. So I end this with a reminder of hope. Anyone remember Robert Downey Jr. in the late 90’s? When he was addicted to heroin, cocaine and various other substances? Well it was in the late 90’s that he was arrested for drug possession.  And affter another arrest, missed court appearances, and failed drug tests, he was sent to drug rehabilitation in Corcoran State Prison for 3 year (YES, PRISON)! But after time spent in drug rehabilitation and some rumored AA participation, he has recovered. He is now Iron Man (literally!).

APA has proposed several changes for DSM V. Some of the major changes include how Addiction is classified. Three notable changes are being proposed.

• First, drug addiction and alcoholism as well as pathological gambling are typically categorized under Substance-Related Disorder. However to better account for the addictions that do not involve substances such as gambling, the internet, or pornography, the category will be changed to Addiction and Related Disorders.
• Second, the concepts of dependence in terms of  withdraw and tolerance have been drastically reconceptualized; this is such that in the case of Alcohol Use Disorder (alcoholism) for example, withdraw and tolerance are only 2 of the possible 11 symptoms associated with this disorder rather than the hallmarks of the diagnosis.
• Third, all of the individual diagnostic categories have been drastically changed as to have a more behavior focus. All of the diagnoses proposed under Addiction and Related Disorders category in the DSM have a major focus on “maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress”₁

It is in this last change that most of the controversy will arise. The intention of the APA in focusing on more behavioral aspects of addiction is to hopefully better capture the true essence of addiction. However DSM V will not be released until 2013, so we have lots of time to think it over.

What do you think? Do you think that focusing on the behaviors of addiction are good or is it addiction so amorphous it is a slippery slope?

Keep checking for the next post when I break down the specific changes proposed for the diagnosis of Alcoholism.

1: Proposed Revisions for DSM V from APA’s website on DSM V: http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=452

As I say from time to time recovery is a process and sometimes relapse is a part of that process. I don’t believe it has to be but if it is, it is.

For more information please visit my website: www.interventionsystems.net

So in short EPC, It is difficult to put a price on a well planned and prepared substance abuse intervention. I have previous clients that have come to me with a pile of family dysfunction that desperately needed to be sorted out. After the Intervention, a large portion of what has been going on – for years, sometimes – is finally sorted out or at least looked at and examined. I am not suggestion that an intervention will be the answers to all of your family problems but I am saying that it can serve as a turning point.

For more information please visit my website: www.interventionsystems.net

Frequently I receive calls from family members or loved ones of a drug addict or alcoholic who are sure that we need to do an intervention immediately. As if the chemically dependent person has not been this way for several years. Don’t get me wrong I understand that in some circumstances people just don’t know what is going on with others but this does not mean that the destructive behavior not been going on for a while. I see this especially when the chemically dependent persons life has started to fall apart or spiral out of control. Trust me, this kind of stuff does not start happening the first time someone decides to get high. I also understand the circumstances surrounding licensed professional who might be putting themselves and/or others in harm’s way. I am talking about the average person who has been addicted to a substance for the last several years. Many people want to rush in and do an intervention right away and I just don’t recommend this. One of the keys to well planned Intervention is the element of structure as well as surprise.

In most cases it is important to find the right interventionist to help you and your team navigate the circumstances surrounding your issue. Then develop a well planned approach to finding a resolution and solution. Please don’t make the mistake of rushing in and blowing it. Remember that the interventionist is not the one who is going to be executing the intervention. It will be you and your team who have the greatest impact on the victim so make sure you practice and get it right.

Obviously you are the ultimate judge as to the health and welfare of the substance abuser and if he or she is in danger you might need to take action sooner. But if you really want to execute and effective intervention I invite you to use your judgment and your reason regarding how fast you need to move.

For more information please visit my website: www.interventionsystems.net

BP asked me if I thought substance abuse interventions really worked. BP was under the impression that most of the time the intervention process worked long enough to get the substance abuser into treatment, but not long enough to sustain long term sobriety (I had to agree with Baltimore). Seven out of ten times the intervention process works and the substance abuser makes the decision to go to treatment; this makes the intervention a success. However, a large number of substance abusers return to the destructive behavior shortly after leaving treatment. What follows is the statistic that we need to keep our eye on. I don’t have an exact number for you and I can’t tell you how this unfolds from intervention to intervention. But I can tell you that most of the time the intervention lends to being the icebreaker to recovery.

Once the substance abuse makes the decision to choose recovery and get a taste of sobriety, they generally start to hedge life in that direction. I have stories and examples of interventions that have worked from the first day and these people are still sober as I write this post. I have stories and examples of interventions that did not seem to work the day of the scheduled intervention, only to have the substance abuser make the decision to seek treatment a week later. I also have examples of first time treatment attempts that worked for a short period of time and then lead to an even deeper more incomprehensible bottom for the substance abuser, only to find out a few years later that the individual is now sober and doing great. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have no idea how the process will unfold I can only tell you that seven out of ten times the intervention sets the sobriety ball in motion.

For more information please visit my website.

As some of you know I have been working on a how to DVD for the better part of the last year. The reason I wanted to develop this project was due to the fact that more often than not I receive phone calls and emails from families and loved ones who need or want my services but can’t afford them. I know you must be thinking and I tried that. I attempted to lower my prices and for various reasons it just did not work. What I decided to do was develop this how to do an intervention DVD. My goal is to produce the how to DVD for as reasonable a price as I can. This way people who call me with no idea what to do, will have an option.

I am happy to say after 6 months of scripting and editing it has been shot in High Def, Green-screen by Mike Quick at Quick1media. My goal is to have a finished 30 minute instructional DVD available in the next 10 weeks (titled the 7 steps to the art of intervention). Obviously this intervention DVD is not designed to replace an interventionist in the process. But if you know someone who might need the services of an interventionist and either knows little about the process or can’t afford it, you might want to consider this as an introductory tool.

For more information please visit my website: www.interventionsystems.net   ]]> http://thegroupprocess.com/1/intervention-dvd-has-gone-to-press/feed/ 0 http://thegroupprocess.com/1/salem-oregon-seeks-interventionist-insight/ http://thegroupprocess.com/1/salem-oregon-seeks-interventionist-insight/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:24:23 +0000 admin http://thegroupprocess.com/?p=54 This morning I woke up to an email that was sent from my website during the middle of the night. It was a woman in Salem, Oregon who wanted to know if her husband was always going to be an alcoholic. For the confidentiality purposes of this post we will call her RH.

RH has been married for 10 years now to a practicing alcoholic who has recently gone to treatment. RH is concerned that when her husband returns from rehabilitation she will not be able to go drinking with him ever again.  RH wants to know if her husband will always drink alcoholically.

That’s a very good question and I will do my best to help you understand what your husband is up against. I have seen, heard, and read some very convincing arguments on both sides of this issue. Some say that addiction is a learned behavior and it can be unlearned. Others say its genetic and you can work it out with therapy and others say its a physiological disorder and it cant be undone . I was taught in college that chemical dependency is a bio-social-psycho disease that needs to be treated with a multi-disciplinary treatment approach (I always liked the way that perception sat with me). I have rarely seen a man (or woman) who has hit some type of social or emotional bottom as a result of substance abuse that has just been able to pick up and control it (I have actually never seen that happen). I just use the word rarely because I am sure someone will be able to serve up an exception to this rule.  The problem with going to treatment and then coming home and trying it again is that in order to find out if you  really have a problem or not you will have to unleash the beast again and who know how and when that might end.

RH, I am sorry if this is not the insight you might have been looking for. I hope that you can find the courage to see your husbands step to get help as a gift.

For more information please visit my website: www.interventionsystems.net 

1. begin developing an instructional DVD that will help families and employers intervene on chemically dependant loved-ones and employees (slated for release 3/09). 

2. I would set up a blog and teach myself how to do this so that people who have taken on the difficult task of developing an intervention might be able to find a community of support.

I hope that the information you find here proves to be useful. Please feel free to post your questions or comments and I will do my best to help you find the support you might be looking for.

For more information please visit my website: www.interventionsystems.net