When Is It Time for an Intervention?

Sometimes when a loved one’s addiction is seemingly out of control, family or friends decide to stage an intervention. An intervention involves an organized attempt to confront a loved one with addiction about how their drinking or drug use has affected everyone around them. An intervention provides family, friends, and sometimes even colleagues and employers with an opportunity to tell the person in their own words how the person’s misuse of drugs or alcohol has been a problem in their lives.

Many people believe they can simply talk to their loved one, lay their emotions on the table, and then everything will change in their loved one’s mind. Unfortunately, interventions don’t always work like that. Sometimes, a loved one’s addiction becomes so severe they can’t see the consequences of their drug or alcohol use or believe they need help. For an individual to successfully get and stay sober, they must have the desire to do so.

The best time for an intervention is when there is nothing that can be done except delivering ultimatums and having a thorough discussion. For an intervention to be successful, family or friends need to know the signs to look out for before addiction becomes severe.

Change in Behavior Patterns

When you know someone, you know when something is amiss. Their behavior changes, they have sudden schedule changes that just don’t seem to fit right, and they go out late at night when they have no apparent destination. Noticing changes in behavior is usually the first step towards evaluating whether something isn’t right, whether it’s addiction or something else.

Increased Tolerance

Has your loved one been refilling their prescription medication repeatedly? Do they need an extra few bottles of beer each night to get that same effect? If these things happen, their body is building up a tolerance to substances, and they require more of it every time they use to reach the same high or same state of drunkenness.

Mental Fog

Often forgetting something that just happened or taking longer than usual to come back with a response are both signs that your loved one’s head is in a fog, either due to drug or alcohol use. When this becomes a consistent issue, It’s imperative not to brush this off as them just being tired. Don’t make up excuses for their behavior and see if it persists or worsens.

Changes in Appearance

We all have lazy days where we don’t want to switch out of sweatshirts and pajama bottoms. However, when this becomes a habit, it’s either depression or addiction. More often than not, when the only center of an individual’s life is their substance of choice, their appearance is the last thing on their mind. Personal and oral hygiene and cleanliness of clothes all become secondary to the drug or alcohol. Depending on the substance your loved one is using, you may also notice drastic changes in weight.

Enhanced Emotions

Enhanced emotions usually manifest themselves in the form of unchecked aggression or rage. When you ask your loved one where they’re headed so late at night, they may get immediately agitated and defensive. Nobody is proud to be addicted to drugs, which is why those struggling with addiction tend to deny everything. Being accused, even silently, can immediately set them off to a level of explosive anger, and the impact of the drug in their system is directly to blame.

Problems With Finances

Drug addiction isn’t cheap. At some point in your loved one’s addiction, money may start becoming an issue. You may also notice your loved one beginning to lower their lifestyle capabilities and start suffering financial difficulties. They may even begin to borrow and ask for money or pawn their possessions. When the addiction becomes severe, it’s possible they may even lose their job.

Isolating Themselves

Those struggling with addiction have a great deal going on mentally that someone who’s never used drugs simply won’t understand. They become lost in themselves because they know others will disapprove. When the addiction begins to get severe, they may isolate themselves away in their rooms, stop attending social events, even obligatory ones, and overall become difficult to reach or find.

Taking the Next Step

If you have decided it may be time for an intervention, then it is time to take the next step. The first step in planning an intervention is to reach out for help. This may involve contacting a professional interventionist, social worker, or doctor. It could also include contacting other family and friends. Support for the process is essential, and it is important not to do all the work alone.

It can be challenging to know when the right time to stage an intervention for your loved one struggling with the addiction is. Unfortunately, sometimes addiction becomes so severe that interventions don’t work the way we want them to. You can look for several signs in your loved one to help you recognize when it may be time to stage an intervention. These may include changes in behavior, increased tolerance, mental fog, changes in appearance, enhanced emotions, financial problems, and isolation.

Once you decide it is time for an intervention, the next step is to reach out for help. At Hired Power, our team of professionals is with you from the very beginning. Starting with your initial phone call and extending through 12 months of monitoring and aftercare services, we will be there to support you every step of the way. Hired Power Interventionists are a team of professionals made up of Nationally Board Registered Interventionists, Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselors (CADC), and participating Members of the Association of Intervention Specialists. To take the first step in getting help, call us today at (800) 910-9299.