"Dear Abby" article hits close to home.

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Such people -- those with addictive, depressive, or schizophrenic disorders -- are best left to the care of professionals. The only interventions us amateurs should perform is to take them someplace where they can get the help they need. Otherwise, they are best avoided ... or even ignored completely.

My siblings, our mother, and I performed interventions on dad to get him into rehab on more than one occasion. Each time, he would relapse almost as soon as he was released. Eventually, we all pitched in and hired a visiting nurse service to check in on him daily.

I wish we could have done more, but there simply wasn't more that we could do.