"WHY IS THE NARCONON® REHABILITATION PROGRAM DIFFERENT? (Part 5) The name of this course, "Ups and Downs in Life," refers to the recognizable characteristic of those in recovery who do well for a time and then relapse, recover and then relapse, etc. This course is designed to reduce the "downs" and facilitate stable upward recovery. [...] In this course the student learns that there are a small number of antisocial individuals actively devoted to destructive activities. Through association with such people, an individual's self determinism becomes suppressed and he begins to fail in life. He may begin to identify with these negative or anti-social people, who themselves have often adopted a drug addict or criminal life style.

The addict can then become aggressive and alienated, adopting negative attitudes toward family and friends formerly close to him who accept conventional values. Once the addict sobers up, a process of re-socialization begins.

This course is designed to encourage this process. The student is helped to identify the "social" characteristics of those who support sobriety and success in contrast to the characteristics of anti-social people. Through the exercises in this course, the student is helped to learn how to develop positive relationships with people and how to recognize and cope with those who have drug-oriented, criminal and destructive inclinations.

This ability to distinguish between who is and is not a real friend is tremendously important for when the graduated student returns to his home or work environment. Abilities gained on this course are a key life skill to reduce relapse to drugs and crime after program completion."

— http://www.narconon-news.org/narconon_book5_rehab.htm