The show Intervention runs Sundays nights on A&E. Courtney and I try to catch it when we can. It’s a documentary (read: reality) show about people addicted to anything from video games to meth. The show documents their addiction and at the end the users are thrown into an intervention meeting, unbeknownst to them when they were asked to participate in the show. Drama ensues as addicts begin to make excuses for their lifestyle. Eventually they all admit that they want to change for the better and agree to seek help.
“Where are they now?” updates roll as the show ends. Some people recover, some slip back into old habits. The last episode we watched was about a 19 year-old drug addict named Corinne. She had grown addicted to herion over the last two years. As the show follows her around you see her starting to seek out new and different kinds of drugs. You watch her addiction completely control her life. She has no money, no job, just a junkie boyfriend willing to supply her with more drugs.
In the end she, like the others, agrees to go to treatment. The show follows up with her a few weeks later. She has cleaned up, gained weight, and talks coherently. She expresses her gratitude to everyone who helped her and she seems well on her way to making a better life for herself. As the credits begin to roll the followup text informs the viewers that three weeks after the filming ended Corinne started using herion again.
After the show ended Court and I both were stunned by the outcome of Corinne’s story. We have watched other people go through the same thing and relapse but none of the other stories touched us like Corinne’s. She seemed to have everything, then she threw it all away. When given a second chance, she chose to throw it away again. I think it hit close to home because Corinne seemed so normal, so much like us. Typically the addicts have lived a life I cannot relate to. Heck, they even had the ex-lead singer of Days of the New on. But this girl was different. She could have been anyone I knew.
Her changes during recovery were obvious. She had gained weight and had stopped shaking. Her thoughts were organized and she seemed to be able to focus. To take a second chance on life and discard the gift seems selfish. I feel sad for those people with such low self-esteem that hiding from the world behind drugs is the only solution.
