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When Enough is Enough, Candy Finnigan

Thu, 08/21/2008

Video on Intervention by Candy Finnigan:

Today's blog post is in video form.

Check out my interview with The Gregory Mantell Show on MySpace TV. I discuss the process of "Intervention" and When Enough is Enough.

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Candy Finnigan, When Enough is Enough, addiction, support, intervention, A&E , books, Penguin Books

Posted by Penguin Group USA on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 3:44pm. in

When Enough is Enough, Candy Finnigan

Wed, 08/20/2008

Addiction and prescription drug abuse by Candy Finnigan:

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When most people hear the phrase "drug addict," it calls up a mental image of a crack-smoking street thug, a skid row bum, covered with scabs from injecting heroin or other illegal substances, or a prostitute, hopelessly strung out on meth. My own experience as a drug and alcohol counselor, and crisis interventionist, has informed me otherwise. More often, the chemically dependent people I encounter are part of seemingly normal families. People with a bright future or a respectable past, and once-productive lives that have been shattered by prescription drug abuse.

Indeed, yesterday I got a phone call from a relative. He comes from an upper-middle class, Midwest family who has loved and nurtured him. He's good-looking, intelligent, and possesses special abilities. He's had all the advantages anyone could ever hope for, yet he's now addicted to prescription pain killers. I'm grateful he called for help, unlike so many who suffer in silence, but his case represents a growing and alarming trend in addiction. A recent report by the U.N. International Narcotics Control Board predicted that the scale of the problem of addiction to legal drugs will soon overtake addiction to banned substances.

Addiction may be defined as a pattern of compulsive drug use characterized by a continued craving for drugs and the need to use these drugs for psychological effects or mood alterations. Many abusers find that they need to use drugs to feel "normal." The user exhibits drug seeking behavior and is often preoccupied with using and obtaining the drugs of choice. These substances may be obtained through legal or illegal channels.

Posted by Penguin Group USA on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 9:12am. in

When Enough is Enough, Candy Finnigan

Tue, 08/19/2008

Writing When Enough Is Enough by Candy Finnigan:

The idea for writing When Enough is Enough was forced into my consciousness by events. After I became an interventionist on the A&E show, "Intervention", I began receiving a lot of email from people in trouble. Families beset by seemingly insurmountable problems with children, fathers, mothers.

Soon the steady stream of mail from people desperate for help, became a torrent. I was getting hundreds of letters and I felt duty-bound to answer them. There were questions about the symptoms of addiction, about where to get help in a certain part of the country, questions about insurance, about the proper response to various crises, about the availability of government assistance, and more.

In addition to information about the choices available for the chemically dependent, there was often a clear necessity to explain the need for action on the part of family members to address co-dependency - the destructiveness of their own habits of thinking and acting, and how that might be enabling the addict. Each piece of mail seemed to demand a specific response.

During the process of dealing with this deluge it became apparent that there was a genuine need for some straightforward instructional literature which addressed the problems of the many thousands who find themselves facing the destructive power of addiction. My brother-in-law, Sean Finnigan, is a writer and is someone who has a great deal of experience in recovery so it seemed natural to partner with him in this effort.

We produced a book I believe can be invaluable for anyone looking for answers to the riddle that is chemical dependency.

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Candy Finnigan, When Enough is Enough, addiction, support, intervention, A&E , books, Penguin Books

Posted by Penguin Group USA on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 9:17am. in

When Enough is Enough, Candy Finnigan

Fri, 08/15/2008

Candy Finnigan, author of When Enough is Enough - our blogger for the week of 8/18:

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Candy Finnigan is our guest blogger during the week of August 18th. If you have any questions for Candy Finnigan, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about When Enough is Enough: A Comprehensive Guide to Successful Intervention:

From a nationally recognized addiction specialist featured on the A&E series Intervention, a comprehensive and compassionate guide to confronting a loved one with an addiction.

What do you do when someone you care about is caught in the downward spiral of addiction? The goal of an intervention is to get the person who is addicted to alcohol, to drugs, to gambling, to sex, to what have you to seek treatment-to seek treatment today. And it is remarkably effective: over 80 percent of people faced with an intervention agree to get help. In When Enough Is Enough, Candy Finnigan offers support, advice, and hope to people who care about someone with an addiction. She acknowledges that although intervention is a powerful tool, it is a complicated process-one that absolutely must be done right.

This kind of confrontation must be highly structured, and Finnigan-a veteran of hundreds of interventions-provides a frank but sympathetic guide to preparing for and staging an intervention. By talking readers through the personal, medical, psychiatric, financial, and legal issues involved, she turns what seems like a chaotic and overwhelming task into a manageable and empowering experience.