Does Forced Addiction Treatment Work?

Can Mandated Addiction Treatment be Succesful?

For the millions of parents and family members out there who love an addict, it can be devastating to watch them destroy themselves and not be able to do anything about it. Loving an addict is isolating, lonely, and frustrating, and it can lead people to do some pretty crazy things, like loaning money when they don’t have it or making the decision to cut off communication with their own child. Forcing them into addiction treatment seems like the only answer.

Living with or loving an addict is something that no one is naturally equipped to handle and as such dealing with the situations that arise out of your loved one’s addiction can be almost impossible to deal with. You will want to force them to get help and believe that maybe your love can save them, and as nice as it would be if this were possible when it comes to addiction, love, and logic go out the window.

Many times families will stage interventions or attempt to force their loved one into treatment but to no avail, and after all of their efforts to help the addict in their life, they will be left confounded as to why the person still continues to use.

So if you are thinking about forcing your loved one into treatment, read the information below on why this will more than likely not bring about the desired result. While there are ways to go about helping an active addict or alcoholic, forcing treatment upon them is usually not the best bet.

5 Reasons Why Forced Addiction Treatment Doesn’t Work

1. The decision to enter Addiction Treatment doesn’t come from the individual

The first and most important reason that forced addiction treatment oftentimes doesn’t work is that the decision to seek help is not coming from the individual who is afflicted. While family members and friends who use forced addiction treatment as a means to help their loved ones do have their hearts in the right place, what they fail to see is that forcing an individual to change their addictive ways is like asking the wind to change its course—it’s just not possible. Addiction is not an illness that is based on logic or control and as such, it is oftentimes almost impossible to get an individual to see that they need help before they themselves see it.

2. Recovery cannot take place until the addict or alcoholic realizes they have a problem

As stated in the reason above, getting an individual to see that they have an issue with drugs or alcohol is very often an impossible task. Addiction is an illness that uses denial as a means to escape detection and as a means to progress the illness. For most people forced addiction treatment will not allow them to see that they have a problem, but rather it will just further ingrain in their mind that the world is out to get them and that no one understands.

As painful as it can be to watch, the best thing that a person can do for a loved one who is suffering from addiction, is to allow them to hit bottom so that they themselves can see that alcohol and drugs are a problem in their lives.

3. Recovery from addiction is not like recovery from other illnesses

Recovery from addiction is very different then what is required for recovery from other illnesses. For instance with many other illnesses, even if an individual didn’t want to seek help for their illness, they could be given medication that would alleviate their symptoms and get them on the path to recovery.

For addiction, this is not the case and the recovery program requires spiritual, psychological, and physical actions to be taken in order for the person recover. When forced addiction treatment is used as a means to bring about recovery, the individual will oftentimes lack the desire to engage in the requirements of recovery and therefore they will fall back into using in time.

4. Death-Therapy and ultimatums rarely work

It is so difficult for people who are close to the addict or alcoholic to see why their threats or their pleas fall on deaf ears. Watching their loved one abuse drugs that are literally killing them is a horrific sight to behold but what is even worse is that the person afflicted doesn’t even seem to notice. The reason for this is because of the denial that addiction brings about and because of the fact that most of us cannot truly fathom our own mortality. What this means for forced addiction treatment is that telling an addict they are going to die carries no weight and cannot break through to them as a means of helping them recover.

The same goes for offering ultimatums. Not only do ultimatums usually just alienate the person we are attempting to control, if we are being honest about what ultimatums are, but they very often backfire and get the unintended result to occur anyway.

5. Addiction Treatment is not a cure

Lastly, no matter whether you’re trying to recover in New Jersey or California, it is important to understand when thinking about forced addiction treatment, that treatment is not a cure for alcoholism or addiction. To date, there is no cure for these illnesses, but rather there are ways to arrest its development and allow the individual to live a sober life.

When thinking of treatment in terms like this, it becomes clear why forced addiction treatment does not offer the solution you are after. It will not cure your loved one of their addiction issues, allowing them to drink or drug with impunity, but rather treatment can, and only offers, an individual the tools they need to stay soberif they want to stay sober.

Freedom From Addiction is Possible!

If you have found yourself or a loved one suffering from alcoholism or addiction, you are not alone! If you are ready to change your life and live free of addiction, then Rehabs Of Armerica can help. We can give you the jump start you need and our nationwide programs are all accredited facilities that treat not only the addiction but also treat the whole person. For more information on our programs, call us today!

Charles F.( Content Coordinator )

Charles F. has been an active part of the Florida recovery community for over 5 years. He began as a behavioral health technician at an addiction treatment facility in Ocala, Florida and has since begun training as a Licensed Addiction and Chemical Dependency counselor in Boca Raton. Charles’ passion involves the promotion of recovery and helping spread the hope of recovery to as many readers as possible!