List of Intervention Episodes - Season 5: 2008

After a troubled childhood that sent him to juvenile hall for felony arson, Chad's father introduced him to cycling at age 15. Chad went pro and cycled on the same team as Lance Armstrong. But after getting kicked off the team for "personality conflicts," Chad was crushed and turned to drugs. Now homeless, Chad spends his days panhandling, smoking crack, and drinking. His family's many efforts to get him off the streets have failed. Their last hope is an intervention.

She sits in her garage every day, popping painkillers, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and sleeping pills. Sandra's pill use is so bad that her two sons, 17 and 11, have left the house. Her best friend, Julie, moved in with her and although Julie suffers from multiple sclerosis, she takes care of all the housework. Julie and Sandra's husband, Dan, ration Sandra's pills so she doesn't overdose. They know they're enabling her, but they're afraid of what will happen if they stop. Sandra's family is ready to try an intervention, but they're not sure she'll ever choose her family over her addiction.

A talented motocross rider, Charles, 23, is still dealing with terrible childhood memories. When he was seven, his father went to jail for molesting him and his younger brother and his mother became an alcoholic. Today, he uses heroin and alcohol to blot out his memories, but he's pushed most of his family away. Now, his half-sister, Lindsey, is reuniting the family in one last attempt to help Charles with an intervention.

A Sophia Loren look-alike, Marie was born into an Italian mob family. When her parents' marriage end, Marie and her mother struggled with extreme poverty. Marie's three marriages ended in divorce, but she was still determined to give her children what she didn't have growing up. Despite her own unhappy love life, she became a highly successful matchmaker and well-known socialite. She even appeared on shows like 60 Minutes. Then Marie met her fourth husband, Bora, an addict and alcoholic. Marie tried to clean him up, but developed her own addiction to alcohol. Bora's alcoholism killed him and now Marie is headed down the same road – fast. Marie's family knows an intervention is her last hope.

Growing up in a South Boston neighborhood run by the Irish mob, Tom got caught up in the gangster lifestyle. By his 20s, he was dealing drugs and running with the wise guys while holding down his day job as a fireman at the Boston Fire Department. Throughout it all, Tom remained a dedicated and loving father to his four children. Eventually, Tom's other life caught up with him after being indicted on drug charges. He lost everything – his house, his job and his family's respect.

Born into a mixed-race family in a predominantly white town, Asa struggled with low self-esteem and body image growing up. Classmates teased him because of his size, ethnicity and effeminate manner. Desperate to loss weight, Asa became bulimic. He came out as a gay man at 19 and started using hard drugs and drinking heavily. For the past 10 years, Asa has been working towards his college degree. Being a medical science student, he understands how his eating disorder and alcoholism are affecting him, but he's been unable to stop. His family now realizes that an intervention is their last chance to help Asa.

He was once a championship bodybuilder and successful property owner. But when he turned 30, Derek felt he was over the hill and became severely depressed. He started drinking to cope with the pressures of marriage and the responsibilities of getting older. His beautiful wife left and now Derek's days are all the same – he sits in his dark basement, smoking and drinking and bemoaning the loss of his wife. He narrowly survived one suicide attempt and his family is worried he'll try again. An intervention is their last hope.

She was a pre-med student on her way to becoming a surgeon, but the trauma of being molested as a child and her parents' brutal divorce haunted Allison. She started to inhale computer dust remover, which is potentially fatal with each breath. Her erratic behavior and absence from classes got Allison dropped from the pre-med program. Allison is currently inhaling up to ten cans of dust remover a day and also struggles with anorexia and self mutilation.

A 44-year-old singer and songwriter, Phillip used music to escape the pain of an unstable childhood. He gained fame due to his charisma and musical talents, but Phillip now consumes up to four pints of peppermint schnapps a day. He lost his career, the love of his life and the respect of his family.

Mike, 67, was a police sergeant, avid outdoorsman and respected citizen. But after he was injured while apprehending an addict, signs of Mike's obsessive-compulsive disorder started to emerge. His fear of germs caused him to wash his hands over 40 times a day. The problem forced him to retire early and his wife divorced him. He was able to keep his OCD under control for eight years, but a relapse caused him to think his food was spoiled and almost starve. Mike's children feel an intervention is their only hope of helping him.

Jenny, 32, is a talented hairstylist from a close-knit Mormon family. When a diagnosis of endometriosis crushes her dreams of having a family, she turns to prescription drugs. Her addiction quickly escalates to IV heroin and meth use.

Epilogue: Mike completed nearly three months of treatment, moved back to his apartment in Utah and began taking medication for his OCD. An April 2009 re-airing revealed that he recently stopped the medication due to financial difficulties. A subsequent re-airing in late 2011 revealed that Mike died in September 2011.

Three of the show's interventionists and five former addicts are featured guests on this episode, hosted by Christopher Lawford and recorded before a studio audience. Jeff Van Vonderen, Candy Finnigan and Ken Seeley discussed their respective motivations for entering the field, after which clips from the addicts' episodes were shown and the addicts themselves commented on their experiences during and after treatment.

The addicts, with their comments on sobriety as of the tape date:

*Sylvia — 2 years, 1 month
*Michelle — 3 years; has since given birth to a child.

• Hubert — 1 year, 7 months. Hubert's friend John, who figured prominently in the original episode, made contact with his daughter and has also received help; now he is living in Indiana.
• Dillon — said he was "sober today"; his mother Tammy was not sure that he was really recovering, since he had left his treatment program early and would not commit to returning to a 12-step program. Dillon asserted that 12-steps did not work for him – each time he went through one, he left treatment and immediately went on a meth binge – and that "relying on God" to keep him on the right path worked best for him. He declined an offer from Ken to enter a new program, saying that he wanted to find his own way to sobriety.
• Coley — 1 year, 3 months. His wife Francine and their children went through a treatment program for family members of addicts. The couple announced during the show that their 14th wedding anniversary fell on that day.

Kristen is a 20 year old who injects heroin and cocaine. She prostitutes herself on the streets of Baltimore to get high. She usually injects the drugs into the artery in her neck. During the intervention Kristen is very emotional, but agrees to treatment as she realizes she will die if she doesn't get help.

Ed, 53 and Bettina, 49, had a picture-perfect life, including three adoring kids, a dream home, sports cars, motorcycles and a respected place in their church community. But six years ago, Ed made a bad career move and ended up unemployed. He and Bettina lost everything they had worked for. They began to drink and quickly became alcoholics. Ed has been hospitalized for internal bleeding and Bettina for withdrawals so excruciating she thought she was dying. Their children have begged them to stop drinking, but it only strengthens the bond between Ed and Bettina.

Epilogue: Ed and Bettina completed their respective treatment programs and moved into sober living in Florida. He plans to find a job in sales, while she is now a house mother in a sober-living facility; they have been sober since June 2008.