Do “interventions” Actually Work?
Question by The Legacy Continues: Do “interventions” actually work?
My best friend is an alcoholic. He’s been drinking since an early age, and since his graduation from college he’s really been going downhill. Example, he drank all day New Year’s Eve, stayed up, and contunued to drink until 8pm on New Year’s Day. I had to drive him home, but that’s besides the point. Not only that, but recently he’s started to do cocaine…and a lot of it. I can tell when he’s “wired”; it’s really been a constant as of late.
The guy is like a brother to me. We’ve been best friends for the past ten years, if I do something about this, I would hate for him to resent me for this. It breaks my heart to see him drunk and/or wired. He constantly beats himself up about it, but still continues to do it. Now, I’m at a breaking point, and something, I believe needs to be done.
Question 1: Have you ever been in a situation such as this? If so, what did you do?
Question 2: Has anyone out there actually attempted an ‘intervention’? Do they actually work?
Question 3: Will me involving myself in this, affect our friendship at all? Will my best friend resent me for this?
Thanks for any and all advice.
Best answer:
Answer by .
What is worse, him resenting you or you finding him dead from drugs and alcohol. Interventions can work but there is no guarantee. He has to want to get sober. I think if you truly care for him you would go to a good rehab place and ask them to help with an intervention. Those who bail him out of problems and troubles are just enabling him. Get educated on alcoholism and it will help you decide. A rehab center will steer you where you can learn about this.
Answer by ???RKO???
Question 1: Yes. I sought out the help of the person’s big brother, who was also a cop. He had his own suspicions of what had been going on and he got her the help that she needed. I just filled in the blanks of what he didn’t already know.
Question 2: Not in the classic sense of the word. I do know a friend of mine who tried that for her mother, and things actually got worse. I wouldn’t attempt it without having trusted others on board.
Question 3: There may (well, probably will be) some short-term resentment from your friend, but then a long-term thanks. (That was my experience.) Had I gone to any other cop that wasn’t her brother, then there could’ve been serious trouble, repercussions along the lines you never want to get involved in. Sometimes quietly dropping a dime to someone who can actually take care of things in a quiet and effective way with the least amount of damage can do more than you sticking your neck out entirely and shouldering it alone.
I will say this, though….don’t call a cop unless the cop is related or a very close friend of your best friend, because once you get the legal system involved, your friend’s life will turn to sh*t while things are being resolved, and could be a black mark on his record for the rest of his life. Alcoholism and cocaine issues…well, they are addictions, and if he was laying there dying of pneumonia, you’d get him help, right? Problem is the stigma of the kind of illness he’s got, so you really need to tread carefully.
Good luck to you.
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