Johnson Model Intervention

Vernon Johnson, the founder of the Johnson Institute associated with the Minnesota model of treatment, described the process of intervention that has been widely used in motivating alcoholics-addicts to seek treatment in his books I'll Quit Tomorrow and Intervention: How to Help Someone Who Doesn't Want Help. The Johnson intervention is based on the disease model of addiction. There is a need to forcefully motivate the alcoholic to enter treatment because the alternatives are dire. The Johnson intervention is seen as a dynamic, emotionally charged, confrontation by significant persons in the alcoholic's-addict's life.

The major reason for the need for forcefulness in the Johnson intervention model is the impenetrable denial systems developed by alcoholics-addicts. These denial systems are often used to explain the difficulty of motivating alcoholics-addicts to seek treatment. Therefore, this type of intervention is designed to counteract denial through dramatic means.

The rationale of the Johnson model of intervention is to break through the denial system of the alcoholic-addict by confronting the person with the crises that he or she caused. The confrontation is done by significant persons in the alcoholic's-addict's life. Through this confrontation, it is hoped that the intervention process will raise the bottom. The bottom may be extremely [Page 505]serious (e.g., injury, health problems, loss of family, death), and those who care about the alcoholic-addict would be anxious to avoid the bottom. The confrontational intervention would serve to precipitate a crisis in the life of the alcoholic-addict that is not life-threatening or otherwise damaging, but that would result in treatment. This is the concept of raising the bottom.

To raise the bottom, Johnson believed that the alcoholic-addict needed a clear view of reality as presented by the significant people in their life. Meeting this need means clearly stating specific facts about the person's behavior and the consequences of these behaviors in an objective, unequivocal, and caring manner.

In his books, Johnson outlined the specific procedures for conducting an intervention. Although Johnson wrote a book designed to enable a layperson to organize and implement an intervention, it is highly recommended that an intervention be facilitated by a trained mental health professional. These events can be volatile and emotionally charged.

First of all, there must be two or more people involved in the intervention who are close to the alcoholic-addict and who have witnessed his or her behavior while intoxicated. Having two or more people involved offers support for those confronting the alcoholic-addict, emphasizes the seriousness of the situation to the person, and helps to dispute attempts by the alcoholic-addict to dismiss or discount the events of any one person. Clearly, someone must determine the composition of the intervention team—usually, this is done by the person or people who have instigated the intervention. Participants may include spouses or lovers, children, parents, employers, teachers, or friends. Individuals who are seen as being influential in the life of the alcoholic-addicts would be valuable participants. It is sometimes the case that those people who are the most intimately involved with the alcoholic-addict are not helpful in the intervention because of their emotional closeness to the alcoholic-addict and consequent inability to refrain from nonproductive interactions during the intervention. In addition, Johnson suggested that each person on the intervention team be educated about the disease concept.

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