Timing is of the essence when it comes to treatment for mental health disorders and substance use disorders like addiction. Mental health disorders and addiction disorders are often co-occurring because trying to cope with one leads to the other. An addiction might cause depression or anxiety through chemical imbalance caused by mind-altering substances. Conversely, living with an untreated mental health disorder could lead to substance abuse as individuals find solace in the comfort of drugs and alcohol. Whether mental health and addiction are combined or separate, they need to be treated in a timely fashion.
Both mental health and addiction disorders can be fatal. Mental health can get completely out of control and cause someone to self-harm, turn to harmful behaviors, or in worst case, commit suicide. Addiction involves the abusive use of harmful drugs and alcohol, both of which can cause overdose, accidental overdose, or an intoxicated accident which leads to serious injury or death.
Determining the timing of when to intervene in a loved one’s life or when to reach out and ask for help yourself depends on one simple thing: is help needed? There is a lot of talk in recovery about being ready, about willingness, and about commitment. It’s true that all of those things are required in order for someone to stick to a plan of recovery. The old adage goes, you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. Not bringing said horse to the metaphorical water can be life threatening. The horse doesn’t have to drink. They do have to know that the water is available and that they have become dehydrated. Suffice to say that you or your loved one need to know that helps is an option, at any stage, and that if help is being considered, it is probably needed.
Working with an interventionist can help you determine the specificities of time in which to take action to get a loved one to treatment. For example, trying to interact with someone when they are excessively intoxicated is typically a moot effort. Interventionists will help make the plans for getting a loved one to treatment, timing and intervention, and staging the whole production.
Hired Power can help connect you to a trusted interventionist and fill in the details of getting a loved one to treatment with our safe passage transport and recovery assistant services. For more information, call 800-910-9299.