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Common Myths about Seeking Addiction Treatment
By Stacy Barnes | May 10, 2010
A prevailing myth in the addiction field is the belief that addicted individuals should be “cut off” from their families and that families can be detrimental to their recovery process. To most people’s astonishment, the family’s inherent resilience as well as their capacity and commitment to heal, regardless of the severity of the illness, can be the most important factor in recovery.
Another myth is that the only successful entry point to treatment is a request for care by the addicted person him/herself. However, the frequent contact and close connectedness between addicted individuals and their families provide a potent avenue for engagement through the actions of concerned others such as family, friends, clergy, neighbors, employers, teachers, family doctors, and other members of the 12-step social support network.
In many Florida treatment centers and addiction agencies, when a concerned other calls for advice about the addicted individuals problem behavior, or seeks help with getting the individual into treatment, typical responses include: “Please have the substance abuser him/herself call,” or the agency will often recommend that the caller attend Al-Anon even though Al-Anon is designed to help family members deal with – and if necessary detach from – the disease of addiction, rather than for the purpose of engaging their loved one in treatment. Al-Anon may provide help and support for the concerned individual, but will not address the addicted individual’s need for timely alcohol/drug treatment services.
Yet another myth is that individuals must “hit bottom” in order to recover successfully. The treatment team at Unity Recovery Center believe that waiting for an individual to “hit bottom” with an addiction is not the best idea. Addiction is much like most other medical problems; the earlier the problem can be diagnosed and treated, the better the chance for recovery. Think of how the survival rate of some cancers have increased over recent years. Some of this success can be attributed to the enormous media campaign that has so successfully promulgated the importance of early detection and treatment. Addiction is very similar; the earlier the addiction is treated, the more the individual has to gain because he/she has not yet lost everything. Looking at addiction treament in this way helps to understand that there really is no “bottom” and certainly no need to wait for and addicted individual to get worse before anything is done to help.
Often, family memebers fall into behavior patterns of dealing one-on-one with the addicted individual, believing the myth that this is the most effective way of helping the person change. One of the destructive features of addiction is how masterful the addict can be splitting the family and getting individual family members to talk only on a one-on-one basis. The addicted person makes promises, uses guilt, and skillfully plays one family member against another in this process.
Research shows that dealing one-on-one with the addicted person is seldom helpful or successful at getting the individual to stop using. In fact, this dynamic is the one most family members give as the reason they feel so angry, frustrated, and ready to give up.
Thanks to the highly skilled and professional treatment team at Unity Recovery Center and oftentimes with the support of professional interventionists, addicted individuals can receive the help they need before it’s too late.
Resource: Invitational Intervention – A Step by Step Guide for Clinicians Helping Families Engage Resistant Substance Abusers in Treatment/ www.linkinghumansystems.com.
Topics: Alcohol Addiction, Drug Addiction, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Family Problem, Interventions, choosing a rehab | 1 Comment »
May 10th, 2010 at 11:21 am
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