A & E's Intervention

I had never considered the paradox of being addicted to A & E's documentary drama, Intervention. I watch in horror as people battle their darkest demons and behave awfully on national television. They shoot up, snort, smoke and swallow whatever they can to get their fix. Some are also sex addicts. Addiction is an amazing disease. Yes, I believe it is a disease.

Treatments of bacterial, viral or fungal infectious diseases require a plan of action to rid the body of the ailment that is harming it. Treatment of addiction is just the same. Although it seems so easy to just quit, it's much more than that. Many recovered addicts struggled day and night to get clean and even then, they have to face their addiction each day. This is where the treatment of addiction differs from an infectious disease. Most infectious diseases are cured within weeks. Addicts have to work each day at their recovery.

After the intervention on the television show, I sit in anxious hopes that they make it to treatment. Some stay, some go. But I always so proud of those who make it through treatment. It's an addiction makeover show and I am addicted.