Empathy is a Vital Quality in Addiction Recovery
What a Drug Rehab Should Have: Empathy
When someone is addicted to drugs or alcohol, he cannot see farther than his own needs. He is driven by his cravings for drugs and his relationships suffer. Parents and children often lose trust in one another because the addict will normally lie or steal from people close to him to support his habit. Due to this dishonesty, it is very difficult for either person to have empathy for the other. Drugs have taken over control of the drug abuser. He or she is no longer in control of his own life. And life will not get better for him until he or she can break this destructive cycle.
Empathy is a basic building block of relationships. Being able to relate to another person and to identify with and understand somebody else’s feelings or difficulties is a basic definition of empathy. This ability helps develop understanding. It is one of the qualities that go by the wayside when one is lost on drugs.
Empathy Can Be Learned
But empathy can be learned. It is a vital quality to recovery from drug abuse, according to the World Health Organization. While learning life skills during rehabilitation, the WHO guidelines say a person in recovery should also develop the quality of empathy for others to make the prospect of lasting recovery more certain. When a person has empathy for others, he (or she) will consider their needs when making decisions. This quality helps guide a life down a sober path.
Narconon Is a Rehab Program that Fosters Empathy
At Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, the person recovering from drug or alcohol abuse learns empathy. He works with another student in a turnabout fashion on several steps of the program. He learns to be responsible for this person and to really listen to what the other person is saying. He cultivates respect and tolerance for other people during some parts of the Narconon program and with this, comes empathy. If you think of empathy as the ability to understand somebody else’s feelings or difficulties, he has the opportunity to learn this during the long-term rehab program at Narconon. He may, for the first time in his life, actually help someone else and know that he has helped him. This is a vital component of the Narconon program.
Susan’s Son Recovers with the Help He Got from Narconon
Susan said that her son recovered his sobriety at the Narconon Arrowhead facility in Oklahoma. She says, “If it wasn’t for Narconon, I don’t think I’d have him today.”
With the help that Susan’s son found at Narconon Arrowhead, he was able to return to working and feeling good about himself. She says because of that help, her son was able to “get out of the drug circle.” And, that it helped him to rediscover who he really was, and now he is “not afraid to say what he thinks.”
Susan continued, “Narconon is a place to go where they can be safe and find themselves… It helps the person to find himself and grow as a person. It isn’t just addressing the drug problem. That’s the beauty of Narconon. That’s the place where you want your child to be.”
Susan’s son learned to have empathy for others and this improvement lifted him out of his drug habit.
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