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In urban areas, in fact, it may be easier for a high schooler to get marijuana than alcohol.

Therapy we might see as fiddling with the ‘software’. Not so different from treating a chronic disease such as diabetes, where education and counseling improve outcomes.

Another common criticism is that the diagnostic system dehumanizes clinical care, leading us to think about disorders rather than people.

If we do nothing, the alcoholic person will probably wind up, at some point in the progression of addiction, in exactly the circumstances we fear.

Intervention can be quite dramatic (that’s why it makes for good TV), but it’s really the intelligent application of leverage that produces the desired result.

Intervention is a structured, team-based tool for helping an addicted or alcoholic person make the decision to seek help.

Psychologists suspect that emotional traits cannot be taught in the workplace; employers must screen and select for them via the hiring process.

Whether you are planning an intervention, or just trying to nudge someone a little closer to the point of getting help, or even trying to rebuild a good relationship with a newly-sober friend or family member, communicating effectively will help.

If something contradicts his/her experience, they’ll believe the experience. However, if we’re able to provide information in such a way that it better explains that experience, we gain credibility that extends to other positions we may take.

Instead of ‘how do we get someone else to change?’ we ask: ‘why hasn’t he or she changed already?”