AIR IN THE NEWS

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly
A Manisses Communications Group publication
Reprinted by permission from Volume 17 Number 12
March 21, 2005 • ISSN 1042-1394
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A cable television series that follows people living with addiction and documents the intervention efforts that their families and friends take in order to help them recover premiered on the Arts & Entertainment (A&E) Network this month.

Intervention, an unscripted documentary which has aired three episodes since its debut March 6, has garnered high praise for its realistic depiction of persons struggling with addiction by a leading intervention provider.

The 13-episode series features real people with addictions ranging from substance abuse to compulsive gamblers to shopaholics. The show includes a team of three professional interventionists, who are addiction specialists, each of whom works with the show’s participants depending on the nature of their addictions. The A&E website indicates that “Intervention” works with treatment and recovery centers throughout the country. A licensed therapist recommends appropriate treatment for the show’s participants.

According to A&E, Intervention raises awareness about the alternatives and treatment options available to those who suffer from addictions, and gives hope to families who have nowhere left to turn. Intervention airs on Sunday nights on A& E at 10 p.m. (EST/PST) and 9 p.m. CST.

Before appearing on Intervention, potential participants undergo clinical evaluations in order to determine the appropriate treatment for their addictions. “They go through an extensive screening process,” Nancy Dubuc, senior vice president of nonfiction and alternative programming for the A&E Network, told ADAW. “We take that very seriously from a clinical standpoint.”

A&E piloted the show last summer, at which time “it became astoundingly clear that the show was feasible,” said Dubuc. The pilot, which featured a gambler and a TV actress unable to control excessive shopping, became the second show in the series, which aired March 13, said Dubuc. “It touched a real nerve in a very real way which is very important to us.”

Although the show’s participants know they are taking part in a documentary about their addiction, they are unaware that a family intervention is planned, said Dubuc. Only the first name of each participant is used in the show. Each airing of the show ends with the friends, family and a professional interventionist urging the individual to get treatment. If the individual chooses treatment, he or she enters into a recommended treatment facility. Each show concludes with an update of that individual’s treatment efforts.

Of the interventions, Dubuc said: “They are there as professionals. This is their passion. I applaud their ability and desire.”

Meanwhile, the reaction from participants and non-participants has been positive. Dubuc said one viewer showed up on the doorstep of the Oasis Treatment Center in Anaheim, Calif., one of the recovery centers and treatment programs mentioned in the show. The viewer said she was inspired to seek treatment after viewing the story of one of the show’s participants.

Series depiction
The series premier profiles a 27- year-old woman from Texas who uses heroin and crack. A collegedrop out, she lives at home with her mother and her severely ill father. She gets high everyday and steals morphine from her dying father.

Another individual profiled is a 38-year-old executive who uses cocaine. In the year-and-a half that he started using cocaine heavily, he quit his job, sold his Lexus, his retirement plan and condominium to sustain his habit.

Another episode profiled a gambler and a former actress on the TV show, “ER,” who suffers from agoraphobia and is unable to control excessive shopping. Future episodes will feature individuals addicted to prescription pills, alcohol, and video games, as well as suffer from bulimia and other selfdestructive behaviors said Dubuc. “It’s really a very broad spectrum.”

Realistic portrayals
A leading interventionist company official said the show’s depiction of intervention for drug-addicted individuals is realistic. “It’s absolutely realistic,” Bob Poznanovich, president and chief executive of Addiction Intervention Resources, a St. Paul, Minn.-based national consulting company that helps families and organizations that are struggling as a result of addictions in their homes and offices. The company specializes in alcoholism, drug 2 It is illegal under federal copyright law to reproduce this publication or any portion of it without the publisher’s permission addictions, sex addictions, gambling, eating disorders and other compulsive self-destructive behaviors.

“Intervention is the shortest part of the show, but realistic as well. In all cases, the families were part of the intervention,” Poznanovich told ADAW. A&E did a good job of portraying intervention, showing “how willing people are to get help when help is presented to them,” said Poznanovich.

One episode offered a very realistic portrayal of an individual addicted to gambling who left treatment after three weeks despite recommendations from the treatment staff to stay longer, said Poznanovich. Another show depicted how one individual benefited from treatment but ran out of insurance benefits, said Poznanovich. The show also accurately portrayed how people “get stuck in the system and do not have enough insurance,” said Poznanovich, who added that the clinicians were also portrayed correctly.

The busiest days the Addiction Intervention Resources call center has experienced so far this year were the two Mondays following the Sunday night airings of Intervention, said Poznanovich. “The show does a proper depiction of what intervention is and lets people know this is a viable solution, said Poznanovich. “People can get help early and not wait to hit rock bottom.”

Poznanovich said the producers of the show had asked his company to participate in Intervention. He declined the offer, indicating at the time that he didn’t know much about the show and was concerned about whether the producers would accurately portray intervention efforts.

Poznanovich cited a scene from the HBO series, The Sopranos, involving intervention efforts with the character Christopher, a heroin abuser, portrayed by Michael Imperioli. The episode involving Christopher’s concerned friends and colleagues resulted in a brawl.

“It was a terrible example of an intervention,” said Poznanovich. “It scared people away from the process — our phones stopped ringing for days after the show aired.” Poznanovich added that “it played into everybody’s fear about what intervention was.”

He said although his company declined to participate in Intervention, he provided the A&E show with web-based content about intervention. “We were cautiously optimistic the show would be helpful, not hurtful,” said Pozanovich.

Visit www.aetv.com for more information about Intervention, and visit www.intervene.com for information about Addiction Intervention Resources. • Manisses Communications Group, Inc.