A&E struck gold back in 2005 when they launched Intervention, a docu-style series following alcoholics and drug addicts (and some struggling with other disorders) from what we hope is their bottom through a staged intervention and, if all goes well, off to treatment. Though briefly canceled in 2013, the show was (thankfully) revived just a year later and has now officially entered its 15th season. The sixth episode aired Sunday, April 10.
This is Karissa
An Oxycontin addict by the age of 13 who was transporting drugs from Florida to New York by 16, Karissa is now 28 years old and shoots up to 32 bags of heroin a day. Because she manages to hold down a job as chef in her mother’s diner in Central Square, New York, Karissa describes herself as “functioning,” yet anyone who isn’t habitually high can clearly see that this is far from accurate. Though she may be able to show up to work at 5 am (after shooting 10 bags of H) and cook up a mean batch of home fries, the financial demands of her daily drug habit far outweigh her weekly paycheck, and so she muscles as much as an additional $1200 a week from her poor, enabling mother.
After numerous promises of plans to get clean, set for dates that never come, Karissa’s family and friends have hit their breaking point with her denial, lies and bullying of them out of money, cigarettes and whatever else she can get.
What It Was like
Like many addicts, Karissa’s childhood was cut short by the pain of her parents divorce and an ongoing sexual assault that she felt too ashamed of to tell anyone about. Mixed with the early knowledge of being attracted to women, Karissa lived an isolated pre-teen life with only one close male friend whom she felt really understood and accepted her. Unfortunately, his mother was an unsavory character and had Karissa hooked on Oxycontin before she was even in high school.
What Happened
By the time she had her license, Karissa was doing drug runs from Florida to New York for her friend’s mom, eventually getting arrested and being forced into juvenile detention and rehab. Though she was able to stay clean for a while and things were looking up, Karissa’s life took a turn when her best friend was killed in a motorcycle accident. She began using drugs again—this time heroin—and has been on a downward spiral ever since.
What It’s Like Now
Because Karissa’s aunt and brother also work at Mom’s diner, they both have a front row seat to the level of destruction that she brings upon the business, her family and herself. But it is clear that most of the people around Karissa are afraid of her and it seems that is exactly how she likes it. Karissa has learned that with enough emotional outbursts and tantrums, she can get whatever she wants from her circle of enablers.
Whatever money she is able to get out of her mother is then used to buy heroin and Klonopin—a brand-name benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety. While I can’t understand how someone could experience any anxiety on heroin, the combination of these two drugs can be deadly and lead to respiratory failure. And though she is honest with her friend Brian about mixing the drugs, she lies to her mother and denies taking the Klonopin before promptly passing out. Karissa’s mother then instructs Brian on how to use a Naloxone shot in case she overdoses and then leaves him to babysit her through the night. Just one big, healthy codependent family!
The next day, Karissa has an appointment at a Suboxone clinic where it appears she is starting Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT). However, things seem a little fishy when she lobbies for a prescription that will last a month rather than a week, assuring the counselor that she isn’t selling the medication and that her mother is the one holding it for her. As observers of Karissa’s tumultuous relationship with her mother well know, it’s pretty clear that something is rotten in Central Square, NY.
And we are right! After blatantly lying to this trusting counselor’s face, Karissa leads the Intervention camera crew to a secluded location where she is going to sell her medication. “You are going to have to put the camera away,” she tells the producers.
The Pre-Intervention
Karissa’s family, which consists of her mom, dad, stepdad, aunt, brother and friend/co-worker Tricia, meet with interventionist Sylvia Parsons—a warm, sweet Southern woman who joined the cast last season after finding sobriety, and a career as a certified interventionist, after her own intervention in season two. Though the group is anxious to get Karissa the help she needs, Sylvia is quick to address the family’s problem with enabling the Karissa; pointing out that they are just as addicted to her as she is addicted to heroin. They agree to get help.
The Intervention
Tensions run high as the family anticipates Karissa’s arrival to the intervention. And judging from the erratic behavior we have seen, this is well justified. There is no doubt that Karissa needs immediate help and is on the fast track to death any day but this doesn’t mean she is ready to accept treatment. And everyone there knows it.
When she enters the room where the intervention is being held, Karissa instantly knows what’s up and is not cool with it. She starts yelling and carrying on, while the cameras—and her aunt and stepdad—follow her out to the parking lot. Of course, it seems obvious to me that this is exactly what she wants and expects. It’s part of her manipulation tactic—to cause a scene so she can have control—so it’s really annoying to watch.
Though very defensive and child-like with her family, Karissa seems to instantly soften when Sylvia joins the parking lot scene. Sylvia somehow convinces Karissa to come back inside and listen to what everyone has to say.
After everyone reads their pleas to go to treatment, Karissa still seems somewhat shut down and hesitant and says she needs to go out and have a cigarette. Sylvia agrees to accompany her but everyone actually heads outside, anxious to see which way Karissa is leaning. At first, she starts in with the classic excuses of why she can’t go to treatment—she doesn’t have any clothes, she has to work, how will the world survive without her—but when she realizes that all of these issues have already been handled, she agrees to go to rehab.
Forty-Five Days Later
Against medical advice, Karissa left treatment after 45 days and retuned home where she promptly relapsed. Within in a month she had overdosed twice but thankfully decided to return to rehab and has now been sober since February 2, 2016.
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