Are You Really Ready?

There is a school of thought that says that drug and alcohol treatment will not work unless you are ready. Even counselors use this as an excuse for a treatment failure – “He just wasn’t ready.” Or maybe you’ve heard people say that treatment won’t work if you are doing it for someone else and not for yourself. Or perhaps you subscribe to the belief that “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” To all of these, I say “Hogwash!”

How Long do we Wait to be Ready for Addiction Treatment?

First of all, what are the criteria to determine “readiness?” Do you know how many alcoholics and addicts have died while their friends and family wait for them to get ready? How much loss does someone have to incur before they are ready? Loss of job? Loss of family? Loss of freedom? Loss of health? The truth is that addiction is a progressive illness – it gets worse – and that the chances of recovery are far greater if some kind of intervention can be made sooner rather than later.

Applying Leverage Works!

What if, instead of waiting for the addict to “get ready,” friends and family and employers applied the leverage they have to force the addict to seek help, even when they don’t want to? There are studies that show that the recovery rates for people who voluntarily seek treatment and those who are mandated into treatment are exactly the same. My experience is that very few addicts seek help entirely on their own. They are leveraged into treatment by people willing to apply the leverage they have and who are not willing to simply stand by and watch the ugly progression of addiction.

Intervention as Leverage

An extreme method of applying the leverage you have is a formal intervention. More often than not, this will be successful. A more viable and less stressful method is for family members and loved ones to begin their own counseling aimed at eliminating enabling behaviors and challenging the belief that they are helping, when in fact they are not. Learning to set and maintain clear boundaries and to stop doing for the addict what he or she is capable of doing for themselves will effectively move the addict toward recovery and free you to enjoy your own life.

Final Thoughts

This will probably require learning some new skills and a lot of encouragement to overcome the unhealthy relationship pattern that has been developed over years. I am here to help.