How Do You Get Someone You Love to Rehab?

Excuses—you’ve heard them. Perhaps you’ve even spoken them yourself—

Treatment is too expensive.
Rehab doesn’t work.
Leaving would disrupt the family.
Missing work means losing money.
Others will judge me.
I can handle this on my own.

The excuses don’t add up when you weigh them against the costs alcoholism exacts on your life and the lives of family members and friends. Avoiding treatment is not worth it.

If you or someone you love is dealing with an alcohol addiction, we can help. Take the first step to regaining control of your life—make the call. Honey Lake Clinic (888) 837-6577

Making excuses for addictive behavior, trying to deny a problem exists, is enabling. And it’s dangerous.

The biggest mistake families make when it comes to getting their loved one into residential alcohol rehab is not acting soon enough.

–Dr. Karl Benzio, Co-Founder and Chancellor, Honey Lake Clinic and Director of Excellence in Christian Psychiatry, Honey Lake Clinic

You’ve heard people speak of addiction assuming the alcoholic has to “hit rock bottom” before they’ll accept treatment. You never hear that sentiment expressed where any other illness is concerned. Can you imagine addressing cancer or diabetes, saying, “We will wait until they hit rock bottom and then we can get some live-saving treatment for them.”

Presented in the same caring way, with the specific benefits and the risks of not receiving treatment lovingly spelled out, addicts will often choose treatment before rock bottom arrives.

What are some of the telltale signs someone you love needs treatment? Look at how alcohol is affecting different aspects of their life.

• Are related health struggles developing?
• Are they having difficulty managing conflict?
• Are they facing related financial or legal issues?
• Are there complications developing at work? With their studies?
• Are difficulties developing at home? With family interactions? With honesty? Trust?
• Are they having trouble meeting responsibilities and keeping commitments?
• Are they missing the joy of life? Engaging less in healthy activities?
• Are they promising to cut back on their drinking but failing?

Any combination of these signs can mean your loved one needs help.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offers a drinking self-assessment quiz

your loved one can take to analyze their drinking habits and their need for treatment. Encourage them to take the quiz and then discuss the results.

What if you approach your loved one about their drinking and need for treatment but they refuse to hear you?

Sometimes it takes more than a loving approach for a person to come around to see their problem for what it is because of pride or shame. If your loved one will not listen, an intervention may be in order.

Intervention services provide help for families to lovingly express their concern and present options for their loved one. Having someone experienced in intervention to consult with takes much of the pressure off of loved ones and helps ensure the confrontation goes as well as possible.

The goal of an intervention is to help them realize:

• they are loved
• alcohol is robbing the alcoholic of both their life and promising future
• treatment is available and can restore the hope of a fulfilling life
• the family is supportive of pursuing treatment, and
• if the alcoholic doesn’t go to treatment, the family will stop enabling the addictive behavior—by applying certain boundaries, allowing the addict to fully feel the consequences of their continued alcohol dependence