When to intervene

When does an intervention take place? Ideally this has less to do with the family schedule and more to do with what's going on in the addict's life.

The best time to perform an intervention is just after a major event. Such an event would be that the addict got arrested, or when he/she has wronged (lied, stolen, cheated etc.) a family member and would show remorse or guilt. Another good time would be if his /her spouse is leaving, if they are about to loose custody of the kids. Yet another would be after an overdose. Although you obviously don't want to risk the addict's life by postponing forever, an intervention will be more effective after such events when the addict is down and feels like his/her world is coming to an end.

Even in the absence of these situations, an intervention can be successful especially if the family is close to the addict on a daily basis so that every little situation is known by the family. An addict's life can be a major roller coaster and the only way an addict can deny their problem is to successfully hide these problems from those who love him.

A good time also would be when the addict is sober. In the case of cocaine, methamphetamine etc. this should be the time after the addict has slept. In the case of heroin or methadone or opiate type drugs, it will be when they are withdrawing and not high. In either case attempting an intervention while an individual is extremely high will usually not be productive for the reason that the addict can not see many of his problems and his attention will be fixed somewhere else.

In general, the timing of the intervention is crucial and needs planning but at the same time an addict's life is very unstable so any opportunities present themselves reasonably frequently.

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