Important Questions and Answers
Click on the question to reveal the answer.
How can I tell if a drug counselor is good?
In too many cases, people get licensed as counselors based on going to schools long enough and passing academic examinations; many of them are not good counselors. Find someone who you respect who has had a good results with other patients, then give them a try.
My friend says he gets more good out of going to church than he does from going to AA. Why?
People have historically gotten emotionally well more often by the encouragement and inspirational guidance of spiritual leaders than by medical practitioners. This hasn't changed.
Why does everyone keep saying they got messed up in their childhood?
Our natural codependency in childhood is the largest reason for our usually hidden, mistaken inner beliefs which drive our anxieties and depression. It's much harder to get us to believe anything we can see is true once we're mature adults. Successful recovery always requires that we give up our childish codependency in favor of independent, mature judgment.
I'm in recovery from alcoholism; how can I tell how well I'm doing?
If you feel no craving to go back to drinking, or rarely get this feeling, be grateful and keep up the good work. We can never know how good our recovery is until it's not good enough anymore.
How can I tell if I'm crazy?
None of us are completely sane or insane; we're all some of both. The label insane simply means that whoever evaluated us thought we couldn't think clearly, or were emotionally out of control too much of the time, or repeatedly did things that didn't make any sense. The word is subjective and overused.
If I have a bipolar or other brain chemistry imbalance, can I still get well by taking the five gates Training?
Even if you have a chemical brain imbalance, we can often adjust our chemistry successfully by working a good recovery program. Even if we're medicated for our symptoms, we will still need a powerful psychotherapy program to resolve the ideas which take away our happiness and peace of mind.
Why is it so important that the Five Gates Training works so fast?
It's easier to get well quickly than slowly; slow recovery programs subject us to prolonged suffering which causes us to repeatedly relapse. The Five Gates Life Practice, which guides us in our on-going effort to reinforce our new understandings of ourselves will continue to help us improve. But, to get into the life practice we must first eradicate the mistaken beliefs that cased our suffering in the first place.
Can't an alcoholic or other addict get well by going to AA or a treatment center?
Yes, sometimes this can work for some people, but most people need more. Thousands of people begin their recovery, in AA, NA, CA, and over 200 recovery fellowships, every day. But in less than 6 months over 90% of those people will not successfully be in recovery.
How can I overcome my anxieties, depression and addictions?
Addiction cravings are driven by anxieties, depression, and habitual triggers; just to stop using will possibly cause your triggers to fade into the background, often for years, but abstinence isn't the same thing as getting well. To get well we need to change the reality we see so we can change our feelings and actions. The Five Gates Training can allow us to reprogram our unconscious mind so we can finally see things more clearly, be happy, and more effective at everything we do.
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