Intervention

[3894]

Anybody catch "Intervention" Sunday nights on A&E? stan4d_steph turned us on* to this reality show that tracks an addict from low point to intervention. You do not see treatment but there is a follow-up summary.

Last night, it was a meth addict in Minnesota. She's 24, a divorced mom who's lost custody. She got high several times a day, had just failed her random UA required for her parole.

This woman was lucky that her parents and her grandmother loved her enough not to love her to death. When the meth addict understood that this was her opportunity to get well, she took it. Many kudos to her for that. She went through her 90-day journey and has been sober for a few months.

Excellent program. We'll be watching again and again.



*Maybe not the right phrase

[stan4d_steph]

I've seen several. I think the most difficult to watch was the woman who cut herself. They didn't show everything (one instance of cutting was blurred), but there was a lot of blood. She had been molested at a young age, as many cutters are.

It's an excellent program that details the effects of all kinds of addiction. I also saw the episode with a young gambling addict. The intervention was not successful - she walked out and drove off with her boyfriend, who she lives with (she has no job). The follow up detailed that her parents are still supporting her financially.

[mad4mky]

I have watched several of these episodes. Each time...my heart gets ripped out. I am truly amazed that these people (the addicts) let these cameras into their lives...to look at their lives so closely, especially since they are so deep in their addictions.
To watch those people (last night's show) smoking a meth pipe...just gave me chills...and to let people film them amazed me.

This is a very sensitive/raw subject with families. I am in awe that they let film crews into their homes to film these stories.

I truly hope that the young mother they portrayed last night stays clean (and stays involved in a 12 step program). Her little girl needs her. And to watch that grandmother...it was just heartbreaking....

[stan4d_steph]

So last night was a repeat of the gambling addict and the shopping addict. The shopper used to be on ER as Nurse Wendy, but left the show when she started suffering from depression and other psychological problems. Her shopping was a substitute for the lack of love in her life.

The gambler was much less sympathetic. Whining to his parents to help bail him out (again) and the guy is 31! Get a grip!

[mad4mky]

The gambler was much less sympathetic. Whining to his parents to help bail him out (again) and the guy is 31! Get a grip!

This guy is insane! Totally insane.

But, I could see how and why he is a little wacky. Seems as though the parents just 'pushed' him a little too much when he was a kid. Graduating UCLA at age 14!!
He had no real childhood. At all.

So, the kid grows up freaksish...and now is insanly crazy and has a serious gambling problem.
These parents are not the poster people for Parenting...at all. HE, needs to be committed.

It was scary though, seeing him fight his mother over the keys to her car when she told him she was leaving. I couldn't believe she went to the Western Union office and just hands over $2300...and he says it's not enough.
He needs to have EVERYTHING taken away...including any way possible that he can get to a casino. I was shocked that the parents spent $600 a week for him to live in a residential hotel. Sheesh...

[sdfilmcritic]

I was wondering how the producers could find these addicts just at the right time in their lives for it to be considered the lowest point the addict has ever experienced. What if the producers got there too late for it to be the "lowest point"?

[stan4d_steph]

The producers wouldn't have to worry about being too late for some people because those people would be dead.

[Flint]

Sounds like more sick voyeurism to me... do we really need a "reality" show for everything?

YMMV, of course.

[MrsG]

Sounds like more sick voyeurism to me... do we really need a "reality" show for everything?

YMMV, of course.

I'm inclined to agree. But I don't like any "reality" TV (except for Idol, of course. )

[3894]

There's inherent voyeurism in any reality show. In the episode I watched, the addict said time and again that she was participating because she wanted people to understand what meth addiction is like. BTW, she knew she was being filmed and had agreed to it in order to educate people about meth.

In this kind of a situation, the potential good of an educated public outweighs the bad of any prurient interest. Anyone who watches will know a lot about how addicts behave, something about why, something about interventionists, something about enabling and tough love, and something about an addict's options.

[Dream Again]

I'm kind of afraid of watching this show. I know quite a few people that are addicted/have done a certain thing featured on it. It might touch too personally :-/

[Flint]

There's inherent voyeurism in any reality show. In the episode I watched, the addict said time and again that she was participating because she wanted people to understand what meth addiction is like. BTW, she knew she was being filmed and had agreed to it in order to educate people about meth.

In this kind of a situation, the potential good of an educated public outweighs the bad of any prurient interest. Anyone who watches will know a lot about how addicts behave, something about why, something about interventionists, something about enabling and tough love, and something about an addict's options.

Very true, 3894 or Helen... just in my experience a lot of people don't tend to glom onto the educational aspect of a show. But yes, television is essentially unchecked voyeurism.

[stan4d_steph]

This show is more like a documentary than a reality show. The participants agreed to be involved, but didn't know about the intervention part. I agree with Helen that it's a great educational tool, and hopefully a wake-up call for some people.