I was discussing drug rehab with a family a while ago. To put it mildly there was a disagreement in the family about how to proceed. Thie siblings wanted their brother to go into a drug rehab. Which rehab and where, they could not decide. They were a large family and have always been close. Some saw the value of being close to the client with the addiction, others thought he should be far away to start over and resolve his issues and drug useage.
The father saw the world in terms of more black and white values. He thought the son should be locked up for a year or two and with time to consider his punishment, he would change his ways. Let me say first, I do understand the frustration of someone close to someone with an addiction. Lying, deceit, theft, damage to relationships and property take place. I will leave the decision about punishment to the courts. What I want to make clear, is that if new skills are not learned to replace the ones the individual has now, behavior will not change.
Maybe we need to change the name of drug rehab. If we started calling it, life skill and stress management course so you do not damage yourself with self medicated drug use and worry, maybe everyone would get what we acually do. Punishment does give people a new skill set. They learn how to lie better, and steal with more skill, and fashion weapons out of combs. Do any of those skills actually help someone change their life?
Labelling someone, and admission of a problem publicly do almost nothing as well. The number of people who have gone to an A.A. meeting ONCE and stood up and said, "Hi I'm Terry and I'm an alcoholic" is a staggering number. Yet only 5% fo those people will stick around and change their life. Only 1 out of 20! Television and Hollywood make such a big deal out of "admitting you have a problem", but that has so little to do with the actual solution. Do you really think someone stealing a T.V. and selling it for drug money actually thinks it is normal behavior and that they do not have a problem? Locking people up makes us feel better. It does nothing to the long term course of and addiction.
