Congress60
Financing:
Funding support for the branches of Congress 60 comes almost exclusively (99.9%) from voluntary donations collected from members at the end of each session, and some branches meet within space provided by government or government-related organizations. Congress 60 has recently established a financial legion within each branch whose purpose is to enable members financially blessed by their recoveries to contribute financial resources to buy land and construct buildings in support of their branch’s activities. There are no paid employees of williamwhitepapers.com 6 Congress 60; all roles serve in a voluntary capacity.
Marketing:
Citizens of Iran are generally aware of Congress 60 through reports on their efforts that appear in television interviews, newspapers, and magazine stories. This visibility, the lack of fees for its services, and the availability of services regardless of gender, age, religious background, and personal beliefs creates a high demand for participation in Congress 60. Service volume is limited by the capacity of Congress 60 facilities, with some branches unable to accept newcomers because of the current service volume.
Philosophy:
The philosophy of Congress 60 is outlined in two books by the founder: Crossing the Zone 60 Degrees Below Zero (Dezhakam, 2011a) and Love, 14 Valleys for Recovery (Dezhakam, 2011b). Members of Congress 60 use these texts similar to how the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous and the “Basic Text” of Narcotics Anonymous are used by their members. Crossing Through the Zone 60 Degrees Below Zero is used to educate members about the nature of addiction and the method of pharmacotherapy used within Congress 60. Love, 14 Valleys for Recovery explores how successful treatment of addiction requires a “full renovation of the individual’s beliefs and views of himself, family, society, and the universe” (Dezhakam quoted in White, 2011).
Collectively, these works present addiction as an affliction of the body, psyche, and worldview and express the need for treatment that addresses each of these three dimensions. The theory of addiction that undergirds the physical methods of treatment within Congress 60 is based on what Dezhakam has christened the X system. The X system is an entity that contains all the neurotransmitters and hormones in the human’s body. All our spiritual, psychological, emotional, sexual, and physical activities are influenced by this system. To clarify, I should provide a definition for drug addiction in terms of its human physiology. Drug addiction involves a chronic substitution of narcotics, alcohol, and prescription medicine instead of natural opioid substances inside our body— substances like Dopamine, Endorphins, and Serotonin.
Having the above definition in mind, we can see that when external substances like drugs and alcohol are imported into the body for a prolonged period of time, the X system is damaged extensively and this in turn causes an imbalance, dysfunction, and disruption within the physical system. Thus, we can name the above-mentioned drugs and alcohol as anti-X, as they cause extensive damage to this vital organization. In fact, understanding the X system and anti-X factors are the important parts of a definitive cure of addiction. (Dezhakam quoted in White, 2011) To repair this damaged X system, Congress 60 utilizes opium tincture tapered over a period of 11 months to repair this system and allow people to live free of all opioids and other intoxicants.
Stages of Recovery:
The recovery process within Congress 60 is depicted as a three-stage journey. These stages include: 1) using reparative medicine maintenance until treatment is completed at about 11 months, maintenance treatment is ended, and recovery is continued, 2) a drug/medication-free journey of self-discovery involving physical, mental, and emotional rejuvenation and self-knowledge, and 3) a never-ending spiritual process of understanding the order and mystery of our universe. The first two of these journeys are viewed as sufficient to overcome addiction, with the third being viewed as a heightened level of spiritual development and service to others.
The Congress 60 Founder described the need for stages 2 and 3 as follows: I can say from personal experience that an addict’s world is like a dark prison; one feels trapped inside the experiences of fear, anxiety, rage, humiliation, and lack of identity. In order to march towards light, health, and freedom, the individual must make a move. We call it a journey: a journey from fear to courage, from anxiety to bliss, from rage to compassion, from humiliation to honor, from sickness to becoming healthy. (Quoted in White, 2011, p. 15)
Pharmacotherapy:
The protocol for use of minimum opium in stage one recovery within Congress 60 is referred to as the DST Method, which involves 14 stages of decreasing dosage of opium tincture. The DST method is a formula by which drugs, alcohol, and addictive medicines are tapered and finally relinquished.
In this method, the D stands for the Dezhakam coefficient of 0.8 by which dosage is decreased in each step; S stands for step, which means maintaining the daily dosage for 21 days; and T stands for time, the duration of the overall treatment, which averages approximately 11 months. Daily drug use, the amount of each dosage, and times of pre-treatment drug use must be clarified in this method and then the tapering can begin. Calculations of OT dosage are prepared by one of the trained guides or assistant guides and stamped by an authority representing the Congress 60 branch. This signed slip is then taken to a clinic where the individual is given the prescribed quantity of OT.
The goal of the DST method is not the immediate cessation of drug use, but the restoration and repair of the endogenous opioid system through sustained adherence to the DST protocol. Once tapering through the DST method is completed, it is recommended that the individual continue group therapy for a year, at which time, the person may cease participation in Congress 60 or volunteer for one of the many service roles within Congress 60. The DST method has also been adapted for smoking cessation and weight loss within Congress 60 (White, 2012b).
Recovery Education:
The core of the re-education process within Congress 60 rests in a series of workshops (more than 23,000 educational workshops a year with an average of 150 participants in each workshop). Each workshop is broken into five sections: male travelers, female travelers, male companions, female companions, and travelers and companions. These workshops convey Congress 60’s philosophy of addiction and the 14 Valleys of Recovery. The 14 Valleys in Congress 60 play the same role that the 12 Steps do for members of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the workshops parallel the Step lectures often found in 12-step oriented addiction treatment. The workshops are held for 3 hours, 3 days per week so that members may attend them after working during the day. Support and Mentorship: Much of the structure of Congress 60 is based on the need to sever relationships that support active addiction and create new relationships, beginning with the companions and guides, that can support long-term addiction recovery. The Congress 60 community is organized around the principal of “a rehabilitated addict helping other addicts who are still using drugs.” Such mutual support is conveyed within the larger rubric of activities and rituals that make up community life within Congress 60.
To be continued......
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