Fewer than 10% of addicted individuals ever receive treatment for their alcohol addiction or drug addiction. Families can serve as a significant resource for reaching many more addicted individuals and motivating them to enter alcohol treatment or drug treatment. One of the most significant experiences motivating family members to reach out to a therapist or an Interventionist for help with their addicted family member is the realization that the addicted individual they are living with has become a stranger.

The vast majority of parents and spouses who contact outside help to get an addicted loved one into alcohol treatment or drug treatment report witnessing frightening changes in personality, attitude and behavior. Family members feel that they no longer know their loved ones. The concern and loss that family members experience needs to be validated, allowing them to develop strategies for dealing with the impact of the disease.

Once validated family members are then able to focus their energies on the problems and take action. A significant change has occurred and the family can increase their commitment to get their loved one back, rather than being overwhelmed by despair. The process of alcohol recovery or drug recovery can now begin, focusing not only on individual recovery but also on family recovery.