Interventions – Good idea or bad mistake?
I am often asked about interventions,
and it's something I am not a great fan of. The fact is, no one quits
anything unless they genuinely want to. Cornering a person and
explaining that they have to quit using alcohol or another substance
is often a disaster.
While well meaning, the people involved
in an intervention often have little experience of the substance in
question, and may end up doing more harm than good. For example, in
the case of spirits, quitting large quantities of alcohol very
suddenly can induce seizures and even heart attack – not something
which is generally considered a good thing. Additionally, there's
often a judgemental element to interventions. An ultimatum is made,
and the person at the center of the issue is placed in a position
that creates more stress, and in some instances pushes them further
into their addiction.
A more productive approach is to deal
with the person struggling with addiction in a one on one setting,
where there's less pressure. Ask them how they are doing. How's their
general health, and how's their back?
“You know I've been getting some back
pain...”
“You know that could be your liver,
you have the occasional drink, right?”
Back pain is often how the liver
expresses pain. There's no nerve endings in the liver, saw when it's
inflamed we experience it as back pain, and people who put large
amounts of any toxin in their body are going to experience some pain
there.
“Do you get sweats at night?”
“Sure, I have for a while...”
Night sweats are a common way for the
body to push toxins out. Particularly in alcohol use, you can expect
night sweats to be present in people who overdo it.
“What about headaches?”
“Yeah... Sometimes.”
When we sweat at night, and put large
quantities of alcohol into our body, there's a good chance that we
will be existing in a permanent state of semi dehydration. A good
indicator of this is inexplicable headaches.
So, having established that the person
could feel a whole lot better, then it's probably a good time to
introduce the idea of getting into a bit of alcohol moderation. Few
people who are addicts want to go straight into total abstinence. In
the case of alcohol (and some opiates) it can be a very bad idea.
Introducing the idea of a gentle step down, and getting some help
with that, starts to sound like a reasonable idea at this point.
At Vancouver Hypnotherapy Inc. we do
this all the time. We introduce a gentle step down and bring the
client to a point at which they're able to make some better choices.
We use a softly softly approach. It's proved very successful for many
of our addictions clients.
If you're looking for help, or have a
family member who is struggling, give us a call on 604 484 0346.
Rob Hadley
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