GSBH will perform a free Family Intervention for families who choose to use our GSBH treatment center. Please call for details.
Addiction Facts:
The Truth and Myths About Addiction
The Truth and Myths About Addiction
Truths:
- The addiction stops when the family says it stops. The addict or alcoholic has been dictating all the rules for years; it is now time for the family to dictate their emancipation from the diseased addict.
- Addiction is a brain disease, not a moral dilemma.
- An intervention can raise an addicts’ bottom before they end up in jail, lose everything, or die.
- An intervention done by a trained professional has a much higher chance of succeeding than one done by the family.
- The most difficult part of an intervention is to convince the family that an intervention will work. Families that are desperate for help will call an interventionist for help, but remain unconvinced that the intervention will work. They have been so mangled in co dependency by the addict that they refuse to believe it is as easy to do as we say it is. It isn't’t until the addict or the family gets into so much trouble that they seek help again. By that time so much damage has been done that the healing process is much harder than it would have been if the family listened to the advice given in the first place.
- No matter how fearful the family is of the addicts’ behavior during an intervention, those fears are completely unfounded. A trained interventionist can handle all the objections the addict can give as a reason as to not attend treatment.
- If you where diagnosed with a fatal illness, you would seek treatment immediately from a doctor or hospital. Addiction is no different than having cancer or heart disease. Treatment does work. 60 days works better than 30 days and 120 days works way better than 60 days.
- It is the addicted person’s job to keep the family off balance and arguing with one another; this allows the addict to continue using without interference from the family.
- The only way to begin the healing process for the addict and the family is too “completely collapse the family co dependency system”. This process is begun in the intervention.
- Treatment does not have to be voluntary in order to be effective. If we can get the addict too stop using for just awhile, they can clear their heads and get a clear perspective that they need help. Ultimately the addict must become responsible for their own behavior.
- Relapse is a part of the disease, not necessarily a sign of failure.
- Addiction is a treatable disease.
- The sooner an addict gets into treatment, the better.
- The longer an addict stays in treatment, the greater the chances that the treatment will be effective.
- Addiction is not a moral failure. Addiction is not the families’ fault, it is a choice made by the addict.
- Drugs and alcohol can “hijack” the brain’s reward system and pleasure pathways.
Myths:
- All an addict has to do is just stop using and they will heal themselves. Addicts do not have the ability to stop using without some type of help.
- “Once an addict, always an addict”. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Millions of addicts and alcoholics have stopped using and found a new way to live their lives.
- Addiction is not a disease. There are many schools of thought out there that addiction is a result of poor cognitive thinking. Many believe that going to 12-step meetings for the rest of their lives is ridiculous and unneeded. While there is some basis for this theory, it doesn't’t mean anything if we can’t get the addict clean. Once the addict gets clean, then it is up to them to figure out how they want to proceed with the rest of their lives. Many remain in 12-step recovery because they appreciate the mutual support, even after years of sobriety. Others believe that with the correct Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) an addict who gets clean is no longer an addict and can live a normal life without getting into trouble with substance abuse again. At GSBH we use both approaches. Every one we treat is an individual and may respond to therapies differently. We won’t know what works until we can get to that point.
- The more expensive a treatment center is the better it is. The amount of money spent on treatment has nothing to do with success. The counselors at a $25,000 per month treatment center have the same training and degrees as the counselors and staff at GSBH. The only difference is we do not have swimming pools and wall to wall plush carpeting.

