Intervention

I watched a heartbreaking episode of 'Intervention' last night which concerned a young gay man's addiction to alcohol. It's difficult to remember a time when I have seen a human being in such pain. The pain of his partner and his family were evident too. Nobody quite knowing what to say or what to do to help this young man.

I'm not completely convinced about the worth of the 'intervention' process yet. I have seen many of these programmes and I am still waiting for a completely happy ending. The process seems to involve coercing the unfortunate individual into a treatment programe on pain of loosing everything that is dear to him or her if they do not agree. They then end up in treatment because others have virtually forced them into it, rather than making the decision for themselves.

This story last night had a particularly unhappy ending, which took me completely by surprise, and the sad ending only merited a couple of subtitles on screen just before the closing credits, which told us that after 90 days in treatment, the young man went back home sober, then had several relapses before he took his own life.

I almost cried. It looked for all the world at the end of his treatment. like he was going to make it. He seemed to have regained his health and his youthful looks, but there must have been things so dreadfully wrong in his world that he could see no way of carrying on with this life.

I remember many times during my addiction asking God not to let me wake up because I could see no future, and cursing and crying when I did wake up and had to reach for the bottle to stop the withdrawals from starting. I can't imagine the pain a person has to be in to go that one step further and deliberately end one's life.

I will continue to watch the programme in the hope that one day a catch one that has a happy ending.