People in the rooms refer to this as a ‘god-sized hole’. It’s a void that we used to fill with drugs and alcohol. We will try to fill this god-sized hole with anything we can. The mental aspect of this disease is absolutely baffling- that is an understatement. We become so fixated on it that almost everything we do leads us to think about getting intoxicated. The mind and alcoholism are so cunning, baffling and powerful that we often cannot fathom how we ended up intoxicated when relying on our strong willpower to stay sober. The thoughts we have as alcoholics are often insidious in such a way that we can’t tell what is true or false. The Big Book talks about this delusion we develop in active addiction. Unlike normal people alcoholics are unsettled to the core. After reading ‘The Doctor’s Opinion,’ ‘Bill’s Story,’ and ‘There is a Solution,’ in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, we came to an understanding that we have no control whatsoever over alcohol or drugs.
In other words it is the consequence of my fear based condition, this affective disorder. Of Alcoholics Anonymous, “we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.” When men and women look inwardly, the spiritual component of the disease becomes apparent. Many people are initially turned off to the idea of the program because they believe it preaches religion and God, and many addicts and alcoholics have no desire to pursue a religious answer. But aa spiritual malady the beauty of the 12-steps is that they are spiritually based as opposed to religious. What that means is that all that is required is the belief in a power greater than yourself. There is no church you must attend or strict practices you must adhere to in organized worship of said higher power, it is a completely individual and personal experience. The Dr opinion quoted above with regards to entirely normal people appears to suggest that these alcoholics do not have a spiritual sickness or malady. Wouldn’t that meant the 12 Steps would not work for them?
The Alcoholics Guide to Alcoholism
I believe my so-called defects of character are linked to my underlying emotional disorder of alcoholism. My inventory of steps 4/5 showed me that my long lists of resentments were mainly the product of emotional immaturity and responding in an immature manner to not getting my way. By sin I mean negative emotions that cause distress to me and others. MARR Addiction Treatment Centers specialize in treating individuals whose lives have been destroyed by addiction. Relying on 45 years of experience in the treatment industry, MARR identifies each individual’s underlying issues and uses clinically proven techniques to treat them. Joint Commission.Our clinical staff is made up of licensed and certified mental health clinicians. The spirituality our clients develop in treatment frequently provides them the open-mindedness to make good use of the high level of medical care available to them at MARR. Also, spirituality in recovery does not exclude competent medical care. In fact, we believe that the open-mindedness that our clients foster through a spiritual approach actually enables them to receive the care they need. “Any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to spiritual concepts.
- Attempting to live according to God’s Will also helps me not react but to act with Grace.
- Only once we open the spiritual channels and begin to accept a Higher Power into our lives can we hope to find a solution to our alcoholic condition.
- So long as we make an active effort to address our spiritual malady every day, we will find relief from it, one day at a time.
- So I truly believe that almost all Humans are spiritually sick to some degree & us Alcoholics treat this sickness, this sense of separation, sense of wanting & needing but never satisfied with booze.
It is the web my spiritual malady seeks to ensnare me in. What many people do not know is that the disease of alcoholism is deeper than an allergy and mental obsession. Our alcoholic life is really the symptom of a spiritual malady. I would suggest in relation to the issue of co-morbidities that one try to deal with these alcoholism related issues and then see if there are any other to deal with afterwards. For me, as someone who has been treated for anxiety and depression prior to recovery the 12 steps appear to have treated these as emotional consequences of my underlying condition of emotion dysregulation which I call alcoholism. These things were true to some extent, in fact, to a considerable extent with some of us. It is important that when we embark upon this quest to alleviate our spiritual malady that we are not too harsh on ourselves. No one is perfect at first when attempting to live a spiritual life, especially when we are coming back from a long spiritual hiatus. What is important though is that we strive to be a little better every single day and never give up on our spiritual journey in recovery. Our spiritual malady never just goes away and stays away on its own, it requires a constant spiritual connectivity and effort on our parts in our programs to keep it and the subsequent alcohol and drug abuse at bay.
The Mind is also Abnormal
Our self will has become impaired and is no longer in the service of our successful survival. We are in a sense co-dependent on other people for our sense of esteem. We rely on others in terms of how we feel about ourselves. As Bill Wilson noted, we seem to get distressed when we don’t get what we want or feel people or trying to take away Sober Home what we have. Learn why honesty is a critical characteristic in sobriety and recovery. We should be able to just put the plug in the jug and move on with our lives. They oversimplify our problem and solution and can send the wrong information. Greater than the mind is reason; and greater than reason is He – the spirit in man and in all.
Alcoholism’s a spiritual malady/mind. Fact- AA Glasgow; a 91 year old; 37 years sober; hadn’t gone for a while realised he was not feelin ok
— Go4Rehab (@Go4Rehab) April 9, 2011
Most of all with the clarity that my program and practices has provided, I have become open to a more intimate relationship with God. Faith as an experience, as opposed to a philosophical construct alone, has become a working part of my life. My spiritual awakening has transformed the powerlessness that I once endured into a source of power through my faithful adherence to practices and a healing renewal of faith in a power greater than myself. When I was in my own personal cycle of addiction, I was struggling with coping with the challenges of my career, marriage, and my own personal development. I did not know how to integrate my career identity with my personal identity in a healthy way; I did not know how to work through questions and problems in my marriage; and I did not know how to feel at home with myself.
When the spiritual malady is overcome we straighten out mentally and physically?
He is just one part of the Big Book & he probably didn’t give the spiritual sickness a second thought, He just knew of the mental & physical components that distinguished alcoholics from other types of drinkers. I understand that the point Dr Silkworth was trying to get across was to outline the one commonality between all types of alcoholics which is the phenomenon of craving. However, my understanding is that the root of an alcoholics illness is the spiritual sickness which manifests as self centeredness, self seeking behavior which arises from resentments, anger & fear. As we work towards this state of selflessness we find that we are slowly being relieved of the hopeless alcoholic state we once thought we were doomed to be in forever.
I can be a dismissive person more than a people pleaser. It is all manipulating our interaction with others to our selfish ends. How do you prepare for life after treatment, and what kind of help do you need? Ever wonder what a chronic relapser is and how they can affect your family? If you are an alcoholic, then you know you cannot just put the plug in the jug and quit. If it were as easy as not eating a peanut anymore, then you would have stopped long ago. Reach out to our compassionate team to begin your recovery journey.
Spirituality in Recovery Means Freedom
This difference in perspective, which I learned from AA, is marked by what one assumes about being human. Viewing Jewish practices as a program of healing, renewal, and change inherently assumes that human beings are imperfect, pained, and broken. Moreover, it assumes that we need help in the form of practices, community, and guidance. Again, this may seem like obvious and simple wisdom, however, there is a monumental difference between giving it lip service and truly and deeply believing in it. We can also see this as years of not being able to regulate our negative emotions properly, if you wish to see them as sins. The 12 steps were influenced by the Oxford Group who said sins cut a person off from God, and that there was such a thing as sin disease. It is therapeutic exchange and shame reducing to know someone else has committed similar sins or has acted for similar reasons; they were powerless over their behaviours. Everyone in recovery has secrets they would rather not disclose, but there are not many “original” sins as one suspects and that haven’t been shared in 12 step recovery. Although social support is key to early engagement in the Twelve-Step membership, over time, spiritual issues emerge as increasingly important and helping others achieve recovery is at the heart of this. I got as far as deciding it was an inherent problem with processing negative emotions, which it is.
This spiritual malady, or spiritual disconnection, is the driving force behind our addiction and self-destructive behaviors. Without addressing this spiritual malady, we have absolutely no hope for intrinsic change or recovery. It is this notion that the fellowship of AA was founded upon, and how millions of recovered alcoholics equate their success in overcoming a seemingly hopeless situation. The only solution to a spiritual malady is a spiritual awakening. Only once we open the spiritual channels and begin to accept a Higher aa spiritual malady Power into our lives can we hope to find a solution to our alcoholic condition. The disease of alcohol and drug addiction is not just mental and physical but also spiritual. The spiritual malady, however, can be seen as an inward unmanageability. It affects every aspect of our lives and must be overcome if we wish to fix ourselves mentally and physically. The way humans think is on a spectrum of self-centeredness and god-centeredness. When dealing with the disease of alcoholism we are selfish and self-centered beings.