MayoClinic.com Feature Focuses On How To Help Loved Ones Seek Help For Addiction, Mental Health

Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 16 Nov 2007 - 11:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

An intervention is an organized, planned process in which family and friends, and sometimes colleagues and clergy or faith leaders, join together in a meeting to compassionately confront a loved one in an effort to encourage him or her to seek treatment for alcoholism, addiction or a mental health problem.

A new feature on MayoClinic.com offers insights regarding how to prepare for an intervention. The article provides helpful insights into how an intervention works, who might benefit from one, and how to plan and hold one for a family member or friend.

An intervention can help people who struggle with a variety of addictive behaviors and mental health conditions. Some indications that a person may benefit from an intervention include:

-- Health problems because of the addiction or other disorder
-- Harmful or threatening behavior to family, friends or strangers
-- Child neglect or abuse
-- Job loss
-- Financial problems
-- Homelessness
-- Risk of suicide or self-harm
-- Driving under the influence
-- Loss or alienation of friends
-- Legal problems or criminal activity
-- Previous unsuccessful attempts at treatment

Although the intervention may come as a surprise, it isn't meant to be an ambush. Rather, family and friends supply specific examples of the effects of harmful behaviors, offer a prearranged treatment option and share the consequences of refusing treatment.

About MayoClinic.com

Launched in 1995 and now visited by more than 13 million users a month, this award-winning Web site offers health information, self-improvement, and disease management tools to empower people to manage their health. Produced by a team of Web professionals and medical experts, MayoClinic.com gives users access to the experience and knowledge of the more than 2,000 physicians and scientists of Mayo Clinic. MayoClinic.com offers intuitive, easy-to-use tools such as "Symptom Checker" and "First-Aid Guide" for fast answers about health conditions ranging from common to complex; as well as more in-depth sections on more than 25 common diseases and conditions, healthy living articles, videos, animations and features such as "Ask a Specialist" and "Drug Watch." Users can sign up for a free weekly e-newsletter called "Housecall" which provides the latest health information from Mayo Clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.com