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AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

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    #16
    AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

    bettygirl;1626717 wrote: it's like the "rock bottom" theory, some people need theirs to be extreme
    That is the premise of an intervention - by stopping enabling, you're accelerating the progress to "rock bottom."

    bettygirl wrote: the last episode of intervention had their statistics at the end of the show. I don't remember the numbers, but it's out there, if you are interested.
    Yes, I am - I'm going to look it up. Thanks!

    paulywogg wrote:
    i figured it couldnt be done without rehab
    Rehab is an extended vacation without booze or whatever your poison of choice is. You get to spend some time in a beautiful place, do plenty of talking, take care of animals, yoga, exercise, whatever, without a care in the world, and then BAM, you're back in the real world and find out that all the reasons you wanted to drink or use are still there and relapse. I was drinking less than a week out of rehab myself. I am convinced it is a racket and that the business model of these places center around "repeat business."

    As my psychiatrist put it, we don't treat other diseases the same way that we treated them in the early 20th century. Why should alcoholism be any different?
    In the middle of my life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, as I had lost the straight path. It is a difficult thing to speak about, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood is. Just thinking about it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death, but in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there. --Dante, paraphrased

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      #17
      AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

      K9 lover, I think that would be a great show. The parent that secretly drinks while managing to just barely keep everything from falling apart. I couldn't watch it though. I can't watch any of them. I went through rehab for heroin addiction 5 years ago and watching those shows kills me. I start crying and become very angry with myself for the things I did/am doing.

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        #18
        AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

        Alky;1626037 wrote: I watched a couple of episodes of A&E Network's program "Intervention." For those of you who haven't seen it, an addict's life is documented, whether it be alcohol, drugs, gambling or a combination thereof, and at the end of each episode, a professional interventionist leads the family in an intervention to try and get the addict into rehab.

        In one episode, it is stated that an alcoholic mother consumed up to a gallon of vodka daily. Granted, she is overweight (I wouldn't say morbidly, though), but I just don't see how this is humanly possible. The alcoholic lived in Utah, so I'm assuming that they're referring to a US gallon, which is about 3.7 liters, or about the equivalent of five fifths in a 16-24 hour period. They did qualify it by saying, "up to a gallon," but this implies that at some point she had. Even at my hardest drinking, I could barely choke down a fifth in a 12-16 hour period. I can't help but to think these quantities are exaggerated and sensationalized in the name of ratings. Same thing with another alcoholic, a woman of normal proportions who drank "10 bottles of wine per day." That's 7.5 liters of wine. I can't imagine drinking 7.5 liters of ANYTHING. I can believe Duff McKagan (bass player for Guns n' Roses) did it, but we're talking about a hard-partying rock musician who led a high-flying lifestyle. It's difficult for me to swallow that an alcoholic suburban mom does the same.
        In my rehab------there was one guy who did 200 ounces of vodka/day----and another who drank 225 ounces....Yup---seems doable.

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          #19
          AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

          Just wanted to chime in. I find this show very disturbing and wonder about the ethics also. Do you think non-addictive people watch it? Also, that Jeff character always says the same thing during the intervention "we have a lot of folks here who love you like crazy". He seems on burnout with the show and subject.

          The last time I watched - couple of yeas ago, people were congratulating him for returning from a relapse, after over 20 yrs sober. I think it's great he was able to come back after a relapse, I just think that doing the show wasn't good for his sobriety. I'm sure it's a challenge for even the solid ones in sobriety.
          Enlightened by MWO

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            #20
            AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

            lead366;1627513 wrote: In my rehab------there was one guy who did 200 ounces of vodka/day----and another who drank 225 ounces....Yup---seems doable.
            Sorry. Don't believe it. That would leave a 225 pound male with an estimated BAC of 2.611. Fatal for sure.
            In the middle of my life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, as I had lost the straight path. It is a difficult thing to speak about, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood is. Just thinking about it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death, but in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there. --Dante, paraphrased

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              #21
              AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

              bettygirl;1626717 wrote: the last episode of intervention had their statistics at the end of the show. I don't remember the numbers, but it's out there, if you are interested.
              BG, the stats, in my opinion are a little skewed. They qualified the final tally by saying that 64% of the show's subjects were sober TODAY, but in my own viewing experience, I saw a good many of those people completed treatment and relapsed, and did rehab the old-school way, i.e. jail. I'm not a statistician, but it seems like that should lower the show's overall success rate.
              In the middle of my life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, as I had lost the straight path. It is a difficult thing to speak about, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood is. Just thinking about it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death, but in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there. --Dante, paraphrased

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                #22
                AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

                my husband has worked in the medical field for over 20 years and has seen people with bac in the .4 range. the one he was thinking of in particular was a "great big guy" and had been drinking for 20 some years. so, it is possible. there was a case in south Dakota few years ago where a woman was stopped driving with a bac of .6!!! it was in the news...it's not always fatal, surprisingly.
                10-06-2012

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                  #23
                  AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

                  im not defending the show, just saying that it is possible, in a chronic drinker, to survive very high bac's. there are some cases where people's bac is above 1 and they have survived. in an alcohol na?ve person, .4 is usually considered lethal.
                  10-06-2012

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                    #24
                    AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

                    It sounds to me that the show could be exaggerating, remember media reports often quote the worst sounding statistic, which will happen every once in a while but is a one-off. Today there's a story on another subject in the news reporting a 156% increase on a number which if you do the maths means the increase was on the scale of around a numerical value of 15 which could be down to anything including fluke or suddenly having a campaign.

                    Back to the topic I started watching a series about eating disorders but turned it off because it was depicting a woman who was eating, vomiting constantly throughout her day. Sure an eating disorder will dominate your life however many people have a life around their habits, and aren't constantly on the way to the store or head in bucket.

                    I suppose this brings up for me memories of people telling me I couldn't possibly be alcoholic because I looked fine - alcoholics surely are the man on the bench with dog on a string, bottle of cider by his side.

                    Nope.

                    I know there are lots of people out there with various addictions, eating disorders (which can be classified either as addiction or mental health), that no-one knows about - not until you get into their lives, or they let you in (which is uncommon) do you realise this.

                    I think it makes me angry!
                    I used the Sinclair Method to beat my alcoholic drinking.

                    Drank within safe limits for almost 2 years

                    AF date 22/07/13

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                      #25
                      AE Network Intervention/Exaggeration of alcohol consumption?

                      This study done at the University of Illinois corroborates just about everything that's been said on this thread:

                      Researchers say reality shows distort realities of addictions, treatment | News Bureau | University of Illinois
                      In the middle of my life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, as I had lost the straight path. It is a difficult thing to speak about, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood is. Just thinking about it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death, but in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there. --Dante, paraphrased

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