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Intervention: Ending Deaths of Despair

Behavioral and mental health intervention and treatment services save lives. Those who find the courage to seek help and have access to it can turn their lives around. People do not recover from addiction and mental health disorders on their own; when left untreated, the consequences are often dire.

If there is someone in your life who you know to be struggling with drugs, alcohol, or mental illness, then please talk to them about seeking help. Showing care and compassion can be the impetus for them to find the strength to reach out for assistance.

Holding an intervention with an individual about life-threatening illnesses is not a simple task. Such discussions do not always go the way one would hope. It’s possible that you may need to bring in professional assistance to guide an intervention.

Men and women living with an alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, mental health disorder, or a co-occurring mental illness are quite often resistant to intervention and seeking treatment. People battling diseases of the mind are typically riddled by shame and fear; they can become convinced that seeking help will worsen their position in life.

These types of conditions are paradoxical in nature and are perhaps the only kind of illnesses affecting people who will spurn recovery services. What’s more, mental illness and behavioral health disorders impact the lives of millions of Americans; men and women who are unwilling or unable to access care succumb to their disease regularly.

New research is showing that despite advancements in medicine, the life expectancy of Americans has declined. The drop in average life expectancy is especially apparent among people ages 25 to 64, according to a study published in JAMA. The catalyst for increasing mortality has been dubbed “deaths of despair.”

Drug Overdoses, Alcoholism, and Suicide

It’s difficult to understand how in the most prosperous nation, the death rates for people aged 25 to 64 increased in nearly every state between 2010 and 2017. However, the data is incontrovertible, according to The New York Times. Fatal drug overdoses, alcoholism, and suicide are driving forces in falling life expectancy for people in the prime of their lives.

Federal mortality data shows that individuals in midlife are not living as long. It’s not just indigent white Americans living in rural America, the death rates have increased across all racial and ethnic groups, living in both suburbs and cities.

“Mortality has improved year to year over the course of the 20th century,” said Dr. Samuel Preston, a demographer at the University of Pennsylvania. “The 21st century is a major exception. Since 2010 there’s been no improvement in mortality among working-aged people.”

Researchers say that it’s hard to pinpoint a single cause for the trend. The fact that we have been in the grips of deadly opioid addiction epidemic cannot be overlooked. It’s also essential to consider the economic recession in the mid-2000s, and the loss of manufacturing jobs has left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. When people are in the grips of despair, they are more likely to turn to drugs and alcohol to cope and wrestle with suicidal ideation.

One in five Americans has a mental illness. A staggering number of Americans also battle with depression. Such people often develop addictions to drugs and alcohol to cope with their mental illness; some will develop co-occurring disorders. Again, people are at heightened risk of overdose, alcohol-related disease, and suicide when they do not receive treatment. An intervention can save their lives.

Intervention and Lifesaving Treatment

If your loved one is struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, or mental illness, then please reach out to Whitman Recovery Service. Rich Whitman can help you coordinate an intervention and assist in getting your friend or family member into treatment.

With success rate upwards of 90 percent and 30 years of experience, we are confident at Whitman Recovery Service that we can help in bringing about long-term recovery for your loved one. Please call us today to learn more about our process: (210) 291-0278