I receive quite a few phone calls during the week regarding family interventions. The questions from the callers range across the board but inevitably I’ll get the question “what is your success rate?”

I’m a little uncomfortable with the question, not because of my actual “success rate” (it hovers in the high 80’s to low 90’s) but because the definition of “success” is ambiguous. I understand that most, if not all the callers define success as actually geting the addict into treatment at the conclusion of the family intervention. Clearly, one of the goals of the family intervention is to get the addict into treatment as soon as possible. After all, the degree of sickness of the addict provided the intense motivation to go forward with the family intervention in the first place.

The success of a family intervention, however, should not be measured by whether the addict agrees to treatment right on the spot. Many interventionists agree that the true measure of success when it comes to interventions is whether the intervention team has the opportunity to present their concerns and feelings to the addict. If this occurs, the intervention can be viewed as a success.

There are several reasons that support this proposition. First, the addict’s using behavior will forever be changed after the intervention team expresses their feelings. Oftentimes, the intervention exposes to the addict the fact that everybody is aware of his using behavior and his addiction no longer is the secret he thinks it is. This new awareness is sometimes sufficient enough by itself to create the motivation to accept treatment.

When the team expresses how the using behavior has affected them the addict is confronted with the reality of their addiction in a way that many times has not been considered. Sometimes this revelation has absolutely no impact on the addict. When that occurs it is a shocking portrayal of how addiction can warp one’s emotions. Frequently, however, the experience for the addict can be the catalyst for change. A well prepared intervention team expresses their emotions and concerns in a way that depicts genuine love and support. Another way of putting it is that the family intervention is devoid of anger and frustration and treatment is presented as an opportunity to not only save his life, but to be able to start enjoying life rather than merely enduring it. In many cases, this method of presentation has not previously been employed and the family intervention represents the first time an addict is offered treatment as a solution backed by the support of the entire intervention team.

If the addict rejects treatment, the family is confronted with the reality that changes need to occur on their part. The addict may not have reached his “bottom”, but the family typically has. The family needs to construct healthy boundaries in an effort to cease the enabling and move on with their lives. The addict needs to accept and experience the consequences of his using behavior and not simply pass it over to the family.
If the intervention team has the opportunity to express their feelings of concern, love and support and treatment is still rejected, it is tempting to view the intervention as a failure. After all, the team assembled to offer a solution to the addiction in the form of treatment and rallied together in a showing of genuine love and support. However, absent certain exceptions, the family cannot force the addict into treatment. Ultimately it is the addict’s choice. He can simply walk away and do as he chooses. However, the family will have some measure of comfort by knowing that at least they gave it their best shot. they will forever know that on a particular day, time and location, with some of the most important and influential family and friends of the addict, they offered a solution and did their best.