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Book Review: Intervention

Is someone you know struggling with an alcohol or drug addiction? Are you looking for a good resource on intervention? This short book of just over 100 pages, Intervention–How to Help Someone Who Doesn’t Want Help, can help you understand the disease of addiction and learn how it’s affecting your loved one. Direct, clear and concise, Dr. Johnson also provides advice and instruction on how to conduct an intervention—and how to do it right.

What’s Inside

The book is divided into two sections: the first educates the reader about the disease of addiction, and the second walks through the intervention process.

Part 1: Learning about Chemical Dependency

To successfully help someone struggling with addiction, you need to understand what the disease is and how it is affecting your relationship.

  • What is the disease of addiction
  • How to tell if someone you know is addicted
  • How chemical dependency creates an emotional syndrome
  • Why denial happens (complete with diagrams and examples)
  • How chemical dependency affects family and friends
  • How the delusional system of chemical dependency works
  • What enabling is and how to tell if you’re doing it

Part 2: Intervening with Chemical Dependency

This section is divided into two chapters:

  • Preparing for the intervention
  • Doing the Intervention

Along the way, Dr. Johnson describes each step in detail and provides a sample intervention scenario to help you visualize these concepts. Dr. Johnson also answers important questions such as

  • Should you seek professional help?
  • What if the intervention doesn’t work?

Audience: Who Should Read This Book?

This book is perfect for those who want to help their loved one overcome the disease of addiction, but is also for anyone who is seeking more information about chemical dependency and intervention.

About the Author

Vernon E. Johnson has been called the “Father of Intervention” since he introduced the concept of early intervention in the 1960s—one of the first to refute the long-established practice of waiting for the addict to “hit rock bottom” before anything could be done to help. Johnson was also the co-founder of Johnson Institute in Minneapolis, an organization dedicated to training professionals and helping addicts achieve recovery.

Book Details

  • TitleIntervention, How to Help Someone Who Doesn’t Want Help: A Step-By-Step Guide for Families and Friends of Chemically Dependent Persons
  • Author: Vernon. E. Johnson, D.D.
  • Price: Can be usually found for less than $5 on Amazon.