Intervention Review

I love fun reality shows but I also really enjoy watching shows that are real and come from the heart. One show that I often find myself weeping while watching is Intervention on the A&E channel. It is amazing to see the lows that people reach and the lengths that families will go to get their loved ones who are addicted to drugs and alcohol into rehab and back into the real world of the living. By far, the most riveting aspect of the show is the intervention and the follow up.

The Show

This show focuses on people with addictions that are so out of control that their families and friends feel they will die if the victims don't get help immediately. The subjects think they are being filmed for a documentary and have no idea that an intervention is being planned.

We watch as the subjects destroy themselves shamelessly in front of the cameras shooting up, snorting, drinking, and sometimes even by binging and purging and allowing themselves to waist away with anorexia. It's a tough watch. Seeing people so messed up, so out of control, hurts my heart. I have never had an addiction (thankfully) but I know people who have and it was such a terrible thing to deal with even from afar.

About half way through the show, the family and friends of the addict gather and talk to an interventionist. They learn what they have to do and say to make their loved one understand that they have no choice but to get help or be cut out of their lives. It's very tough for a family to do this but, in these cases, there really is no alternative.

The addicts are finally brought into a room with their family and friends ready to confront them. They have no idea what is going on but they realize - too late - that they are being confronted about their addiction. Sometimes they bolt, other times they cry. Sometimes it only takes a few words before they break down and agree to treatment, other times they flatly refuse.

Watching people who love the addict pouring their hearts out, united, desperate to see their family member or friend get help is heart wrenching. When one agrees to go to treatment, I find myself almost as relieved and hopeful as the families.

If they agree, the addicts are taken immediately to either a detox center or rehab facility. We find out how they are doing, sometimes by actually revisiting them and sometimes via a recap at the end of the show. Not all who agree to rehab stay and not all who stay in rehab stay clean. It's disappointing to see that all the love and hard work that the families put forth was for naught but there are many successes as well. Seeing these hopeless people alive again, filled with hope and clean and sober is so fulfilling to me. It makes me believe in the power of love.

Intervention isn't pretty, funny, or particularly easy to watch. But it is real. Every day people die alone because families don't know what to do to help them. This show not only shows us what we can do if we have a loved one in a desperate situation, it actually goes a step further by encouraging people to call the show for help.

All information you need to reach out to your own loved one is on their website at http://www.aetv.com/intervention/index.jsp.

My Viewpoint

Even if you never knew anyone who was addicted to drugs or alcohol or had other destructive behaviors (anorexia, bulimia, cutting and other self-mutilation obsessions), you can't help but to be sucked into this show. It raises awareness about the people who do end up in a cycle of self-destruction and shows that all is not lost even when someone is at rock bottom.

I believe everyone should watch at least one episode. It really shows - with no sugarcoating - what families, friends, and loved ones go through as well as what the addicts go through. The show has changed my view of drug addicts. Most want help. Most feel like they are trapped in a situation they will never get out of and most know that death is the only way they will be able to stop their behaviors. I never had a lot of compassion for people who chose to wreck their lives with drugs or booze but I do now. I see now that it isn't black or white. Addiction, like life, is various shades of grey.

This is an amazing show. It helps the viewer and tries desperately to help the addicts. It often succeeds. If it doesn't, it helps the addicts' families to somehow come to terms with what they are living with.

This is a 5 star show that should be shown during primetime, not buried late at night. Nonetheless, set your DVR's and catch a few episodes. It will change how you feel about addiction and may elicit emotions for strangers that you never even suspected you could have.

When to Watch

A&E Channel

Fridays at 10 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 a.m.

There are repeats of the shows late at night on Fridays which is when I watch (3 a.m. to 4 a.m.).