Narconon’s Unique Approach to Addiction – Part 2

After a client is clear headed and can think clearly they are ready to face life.  They learn about life on Phase two. This phase is designed to help clients face the mental and emotional issues connected to their addiction. Narconon second phase consists of a series of courses that are designed to increase a person’s self-awareness about their problems and possible solutions.

Narconon Communication and Perception Course

The first course is called the Communication and Perception Course and contains two parts. The first part consists of the person practicing communication skills with another student in the program. They work increasing their ability to handle stressful communication and feeling comfortable with their emotions during these situations. It helps them learn how to keep control over their emotions when being antagonized by another person and also how to help calm others down in case of argument. Communication skills are vital to life and being able to have control over ones emotions in stressful situations is critical to maintaining sobriety.

One reason some people can have a relapse on drugs is getting upset and being effected for a while over the upset. They then take drugs to numb the emotions so they just don’t have to deal with what they are feeling. During the communication course the person learns how to control and deal with their negative emotions. They are given tools that they will be able to use for the rest of their life and they practice using them until they are second nature. By the time they finish part one of the communication course a Narconon student should be able to handle most upsetting situations in a healthy manner with a positive outlook.

Narconon Objectives Course

The second part of this course is called objectives. This section focuses on doing repetitive observation exercises designed to increase perception of the environment.  The purpose of these exercises is to bring the person fully into the present. Many times someone who has used drugs for a while gets stuck in past moments. Often, they are not even aware that a part of their mind is stuck in the past.  In this part of the program they learn how to unstick themselves from past experiences and learn how to live in the present moment. They will be able to think of things from the past if they choose to instead of being plagued unwilling from past memories. It helps them to let go of things that they cannot change so that they can focus on making new habits for the future.   This phase is very freeing.

Narconon Ups and Downs in Life Course

The next course that a student in the Narconon program participates in is called Ups and Downs in Life. The purpose of this course is to teach the person how to recognize healthy positive people and negative unhealthy people in life. It teaches them the characteristics of social and anti-social people so that they are able to recognize the people that they should befriend and the people that they should stay away from.  Addicts are often surrounded by people who do not have their best interests at heart.

This is often what got the addict in trouble to begin with. They weren’t able to discern the difference between people that have their best interest in mind and people who don’t. It is often an anti-social person who helps them along the way to drug addiction. This course helps individuals to recognize the people from their past who may have bid them ill will and come to terms with realizing this.

It also gives the social tools to deal with these kind of people in future situations to neutralize any animosities that may arise. They won’t be able to bring these negative people up because a person has to do that for themselves, but they will be able to learn how keep these people from bringing them down. This is also the part of the program when they decide which friends they should keep and which people they really should just never talk to again. They communicate with the people that they decide that they are going to not talk to anymore while they are still in the program and let them know very politely that they will no longer be hearing from them. The program encourages the students to go ahead and do this while they are in the safety of the program instead of waiting until they have graduated as it is a safer more secure time.

Narconon Personal Values and Integrity

After they have recognized the people around them that have negatively affected their life they then take responsibility for the things that they have done to others.   They take an objective view of all the things that they have done that they considered to be wrong i.e stealing from their grandmother, and they write it all down. They do not write down excuses as to why they thought it was OK at the time or how the other person hurt them or anything like that. They just write down to the best of their ability what exactly happened in a very matter of fact way with as much detail as possible. They do this with everything that they can remember that they feel guilty about. After they complete writing it, they show it to one counselor that they feel safe with and that staff member reads it. They then give the paper back to the student and the person can burn it or tear it up and throw it away or whatever they want. Anything that they admit to is held completely confidential and the person is not judged for any of it. This is a very difficult part of the program to do, but once completed is very freeing for the person. It helps them to forgive themselves so they can move on in the future without ghosts from their past haunting them.

Narconon Improving Conditions in Life

At this point in the program after taking responsibility for themselves they then make a plan as how to continue every aspect of their life going forward. They look at everything from themselves and the relationships with their family, work, community, onward and upward until G-d or their religious views and they take a look at what they need to do to repair these relationships and continue all aspects of their life in a positive direction. This is also a very important step to the program because it helps the person take responsibility for the welfare of their own life and their own well being as well as their relationships with others. They learn how to repair the damage in their life where they can and help others where they can. It helps them to value their own contribution to themselves and to society.

Narconon Way to Happiness

Finally, they learn a basic moral code that applies to all areas of life. The code seems very simple but can actually be quite profound for the person. Often times they had been going about life without a good set of guidelines to go by and it probably was quite confusing for them. Maybe they had been raised with a good set of morals but usually by the time they get to Narconon most have these have gone by the wayside and they need a refresher. They learn how being a good person in life actually helps their life become easier and help those around them. They learn how the good guy really doesn’t finish last.
Narconon has a seventy-six percent success rate and has centers across the globe. It helps thousands and thousands of people every year battle their addiction to drugs or alcohol and win. It is a definite for anyone who feels that they have a drug problem and wants to be able to regain control over their life.

The elements described here, are the elements, if learned can help individuals live drug free lives.