Is Intervention Successful?
Of the hundreds of interventions James and Janice Dunn have done, well over 90% result in the troubled individual entering treatment.
Every intervention is successful. Even if the person does not enter treatment immediately, the family of the troubled individual becomes more honest and capable of dealing with the problem. Loved ones learn to detach from the behavior of the addict, the family puts up boundaries and everyone becomes healthier. The bar is raised for the troubled person, who often enters treatment soon after.
The result is good for the family, and always good for the troubled individual.
Intervention Principles
- The person has a disease that is causing significant damage in his or her life.
- Denial is part of the disease process that prevents the person from fully appreciating the damage
- The person is unlikely to seek help on his or her own.
- The people that surround the person can change the environment by destroying the enabling system and making it more likely that they will seek help.
- One of the most important factors in influencing the person to seek help is the sense of love and concern conveyed by those involved in the intervention.
- Anger and punitive measures have no place in an intervention, and will only serve to increase the person's defenses and make it less likely that they will receive help.
- Consequences for not going to treatment should not be designed to punish the addict. They should be designed to protect the health and well being of all involved in the intervention.
- Individuals that require an intervention are in a great deal of denial and usually need an initial period of intensive treatment such as a residential treatment program or an intensive daily outpatient program.
- It is useful to intervene even if the person does not go to treatment. Many secondary goals can be accomplished including planting a seed for future opportunities and allowing the loved ones to detach from the behavior of the addict having made a good effort at engaging them with appropriate help.
- Intervention is not a "confrontation." It is a well-organized expression of genuine concern for a person who is sick with a chronic illness.
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