When someone you know is suffering from alcohol abuse, drug abuse, eating disorders or other addictions, it is very difficult to know how to help. Our first instincts are to help, and often we help by treating the symptoms of the addictions. An addiction intervention can help the addict get into a professional rehabilitation program before the symptoms spiral out of control. The symptoms of addiction are many.

Addicts are unable to fulfill their responsibilities at work, at school or in the home. Those who care about the addict and who see what is happening try to pick up the slack. They make excuses for the addict. They help out with homework, babysitting, and housework. They try to alleviate the visible sources of stress. This action may help temporarily but is not a permanent solution by any means. It takes pressure off of the addict and places more stress on those trying to help. However the problem continues, the addiction gets worse and the addict becomes even more incapable of handling their responsibilities. An addiction intervention can help by using these situations to steer the addict into a professional rehabilitation program, before the consequences become even more damaging.

Addicts continue to drink or use drugs or behave in compulsive ways even when it is dangerous. Families see it, friends see it, but the addict is somehow blind to the dangers. Despite all the help the addict is receiving, things get worse. What we thought would help alleviate stress and take away the need to continue compulsive behaviors, or using alcohol or drugs, has merely given the addict more time to engage in dangerous behavioral patterns. An addiction intervention will help stop the patterns and get the addict into a professional rehabilitation program.

The addict will experience a greater need to engage in compulsive behaviors, or to use more drugs or alcohol to achieve the desired effect. What used to be enough is no longer enough. This is a nightmare for the addict and those who care about them. The addict is led by an internal need for more and more. It becomes a matter of survival. The efforts to take away pressure has not achieved anything. Lending money, taking the kids for weeks at a time, doing work for the addict so they don’t lose their job has become a normal way of life. When someone calls a professional addiction interventionist, they will soon learn that both they and the addict can break free from this cycle.

Addicts try but fail to stop the drinking, drug use or compulsive behaviors. Their intentions are honorable. There is a part of them that truly wants to stop but they are unable. Friends and family are encouraged by the attempts and discouraged by the failures. This cycle can continue for months and even years until sooner or later the addict gives up entirely. When those who care about the addict see an attempt to quit and call a professional addiction interventionist, they can reach out to the addict at the point in that cycle where they are most likely to receive help.

Addicts continue to engage in compulsive behaviors or use drugs and alcohol even though they know the danger. This of course causes incredible stress. The people who care about them are scared, but the addict doesn’t seem to be. It’s almost as if they’ve embraced their addiction and will continue to use in spite of the life threatening consequences. An addiction intervention is now a matter of saving the person's life. It may be the only thing left that can get them into a life-saving rehabilitation program.