The same conditions are probably true for many other areas of this country. That very afternoon the plan was put into motion. In one week a building was found, rented, and filled with 35 raw addicts and their supervisors. The central attitude conveyed in the program philosophy is that there is no magic cure. You get back what you put into the program.
Success is proportional to the degree of hard work undertaken by a given patient.
Thus, such programs as Odyssey House provide a systematic opportunity for the addict to be challenged, aided, and encouraged to struggle with struggle. In so doing the addict gradually learns how to tolerate increasing dosages of frustration. This is brought about as the addict learns to cope with the associated problems of daily living in a structured setting. In a short time, the house was humming with constructive activity and positive feelings. In a positive atmosphere, the best in people is brought out contrasted with the opposite.