Helping someone overcome substance abuse and addiction is a challenging undertaking. It requires courage, persistence, and an ongoing willingness to help which will carry a person through the ups-and-downs, the hard times, and the rough spots. It requires a depth of understanding that helps one human being to communicate with another human being while he or she is experiencing their own personal journey out of the trap of addiction.
Drugs and What They Do
Research has been done which demonstrates the single most destructive element in our current culture to be drugs.
The widespread use of drugs, both pharmaceutical and illicit street drugs, has continued to accelerate and is contributing heavily to the debilitation of our society. Certain drugs are known to cause brain and nerve damage; and certain drugs are known to be highly addictive.
Research done in the 1970s by humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard, determined there is such a thing as a “drug personality.” It is an artificial personality, and it is created by drugs. Apparently, drugs can change the attitude of a person from his or her original personality to one which secretly harbors hatreds and hostilities—and which the person does not permit to show on the surface.
Mr. Hubbard noted that while it may not hold true in all cases, the findings did establish a link between the increasing difficulties with production, crime, and the modern breakdown of industrial and social culture—and drugs.
He further noted that drugs also result in a breakdown of mental alertness, ethical fiber—and the problem is planet-wide.
With this basic understanding of the “drug personality”, a person can more easily understand how to better maintain communication with another who is drug-addicted, and going through drug rehabilitation treatment.
Tips for Communicating
Underneath the overlay of the “drug personality”, the person you knew and loved before he or she was damaged and changed by drugs is still there. The most important basis on which to establish your communication is affinity—simply continue to like the person. If he or she has been using drugs, is addicted, and has been living the addiction lifestyle, there will be a myriad of reasons not to want to simply like the person anymore. But until he or she starts to experience the beneficial changes of workable drug rehabilitation treatment, it can be your stable guideline to follow in communicating to the person during substance abuse treatment.
Another tip for communicating is to stay interested in what the person is experiencing, learning, going through, and hopefully—realizing about themselves and life.
Important to communicating with the person is recognizing any signs of improvement; any signs of a willingness or desire to change or do better; any signs of once again becoming more of who you know they really are. Recognize the efforts to do better, and to be better; and let the person know you see that—and appreciate it.
Remember that communication is one of the most fundamental parts of life and relationships, and it is a powerful tool you can use well to help a family member or loved one overcome his or her addiction.
Communication Skills
The ability to communicate well with others is one of the most important life skills a person can have. For the recovering addict, improving their ability to communicate with self and others can be instrumental in their attainment of sobriety, and in maintaining it as they go through life.
For more information on how the doing the Narconon program helps a person improve their communication and other life skills, please contact us today.