Intervention
I actually have never really seen this show before, but last year in my Drug Awareness class, my group did a presentation on drugs and the elderly and a girl in my group had an idea of showing a clip of Intervention for our presentation. Since I am a psychology major and drug addiction is a very serious disease, I will experience a lot of addiction in my career. Since this is a new season, I thought this was a good time to start watching.
This episode follows the alcohol addiction of a man named Jeff. He is a firefighter who has been on medical leave because he fell on the job. Alcohol was probably related. His mother was an alcoholic, so it's very common for a child of an alcoholic to become and alcoholic themselves.
Jeff drinks up to 24 cans of beer a day! Wow, that is a lot! He has had 2 DUI's and has had 8 alcohol related hospitalizations. He did enter a 30 day rehab program but after getting out he only lasted one day. His wife left him because of his drinking and his son went to go live with his biological mother. I understand that his family is tired of his drinking, but the best thing for him is not for them to all leave him. I believe that will only make things worse. His wife probably thinks this too because she brings him food once a week. His wife wants him to be sober for a certain time before she comes back to him. I don't really think thats a good idea either. I think he needs someone there to make sure he stays sober, to keep reminding him what he will lose if he doesn't quit. He knows that he needs to quit but he needs his loved ones standing beside him to help him along the way.
During his intervention his family members and friends all gave him an ultimatum. It was either he quit drinking or he lose all of his friends and family. They were really harsh, with their threats of never talking to him again, but it was something he needed to hear. Its hard giving a drug addict an ultimatum like that. You don't want to say you will never see or speak to them again if they don't quit because that can just make things work, but if you don't they may never get the treatment that they need.
So Jeff agreed to get help and go to a 90 day treatment program. It was his third time going into detox. When he got out he looked like a new person. He said he was 40 years old, but being an alcoholic, it really aged him. After treatment he actually looks his age. Him and is wife are falling in love again and they moved back in together. He's been sober since November 2008.
Obsessed
Obsessed is a new documentary show on A&E that showcases people that suffer from major anxiety disorders, which takes two patients a week through a 12 week treatment program. With me, being a psychology major, this show is right up my alley when it comes to severe mental disorders, and what I want to specialize in. This week documents the treatment of two girls with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
One girl, Nicole, has this thing with hands, where she freaks out if they are open or hidden and she freaks out with soft, delecate movements. She also doesn't like her mother's "K" sounds. Her relationship with her mom and brother are both very strained because her mom and brother's hands are what bothers her the most so she can never spend time with her. Everytime someone makes a delecacate, soft movement or her mom makes a "K" sound she always has to make up for it. She also hates it when either of them touch her.
Then there is another girl, Trina, who constantly has thoughts of killing people everywhere she goes and she gets scared that one day she will actually go through with killing somebody someday. She also freaks out whenever she reads about a killing in the newspaper or hears something on tv. Because of this fear of killing people she hasn't hung out with her friends for a year and a half in fear that she will one day hurt them.
Nicole and Trina both went through a 12 week treatment program where both doctors used cognitive behavior therapy to treat their obsessive compulsive disorder. For the treatment of Nicole's OCD she had to keep listening to her mother read a passage with many "K" sounds while she held it a different way. She had to do this without moving her mom's hands or making up for the soft "K" sounds. She also had to sit for a certain amount of time while her mother and brother sat while thier hands were loose and not crossed. To get over her fear of being touched she just had to sit there while her brother touched her. At the end of the 12 weeks she made really good progress. Her and her mother got thier nails done regularly and they all could eat dinner without Nicole freaking out about hands and "K" sounds. It also didn't bother her when her mother or brother touched her.
For Trina to understand that she is not going to go through with killing someone someday the doctor had her read a passage about her taking a knife to the doctor's throat. She had Trina take the knife to her throat. The doctor trusted Trina enough to know that she isn't going to slit her throat. She then took her to the gun range to shoot guns and Trina was very apt to do that. But at the end she knew that she was not a violent person and knew she could never kill anyone. Her shooting the gun was like shooting away her OCD and the fears and thoughts she once had. She was then able to go out with her friends without fears of one day hurting them.
I really love both of these shows, not only because these are the types of people I will one day work with, but it shows people just how serious these disorders can be. Addiction and anxiety disorders are two very serious disorders and I don't think that people know just how serious they are.
