Desperation is a gift given to addicts by their pain, by their struggles, by their experiences as addicts and alcoholics. However, this gift is often seen as something that needs to be addressed instead of being harnessed as a way to lead them to treatment.
When the struggles of addiction are treated as symptoms — treated with medication, or hidden by loved ones trying to clean up the problem so that the addiction doesn't look so bad or hurt so much — the gift of desperation is being stolen.
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Key ideas in this chapter
- Desperation as a necessary catalyst for change
- How family intervention can rob addicts of needed motivation
- The balance between helping and enabling
- Letting consequences create the motivation for treatment
"If they can't feel it, they won't fix it!"