Some people have an image of an instantaneously life-changing event—the equivalent of being struck by a bolt of lightening or being spoken to by a burning bush (a la Moses) or some similarly dramatic and unmistakable occurrence. They may anticipate a sensational event that will forever change their lives, permanently elevating them above the routine din of the daily grind, and giving them the secret to ongoing happiness. This is how a mental health disorder manifests itself as distorted fear based thinking which appear, if acted upon, to make one’s situation a whole lot worse. These illustrate how the 12 step programme can help with an emotion dysregulation disorder. But there is more to our threat load than the physical and spiritual. We have the subawareness shadow part of our physiology that tends towards a defense bias and trigger.

What Constitutes a Spiritual Awakening?

This is due to the fact that addiction is really a spiritual disorder. Although the disease has biological, behavioral, and psychological roots, treating those aspects, without including the spiritual component,  is like sticking a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. If you are seeking drug and alcohol related addiction rehab for yourself or a loved one, the YourFirstStep.org hotline is a confidential and convenient solution.

Breaking Free from the Chains of Addiction: The Role of Spirituality in Recovery from Substance Abuse

• Spiritual maladies can manifest in numerous ways and affect various aspects of our lives, including mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
• According to Alcoholics Anonymous, informally known as The Big Book, when someone with alcoholism drinks, they have an abnormal reaction likened to an allergic reaction.
• There are also many great detox facilities in Glenwood Springs that can help people get the physical component of addiction out of their system and under control.

So, what is the cure for physical, mental, emotional, shadow, social and spiritual illness, and disease? It is simply to move people away from threat and towards safety. No amount of reason or rationalization with someone under threat, who is physiologically incapable of reason in that moment, will work. No amount of reason, rationalization, or punishment, will restore their sight. Giving a threatened person safety instead of reason, rationalization, or punishment, is the equivalent of giving a blind person sight. The threatened given safety will see, understand, connect, bond, and thrive.

What Is a Sober Living House?

If you’re struggling to find a Higher Power in AA, know that you’re not alone. There are many people who have been in your shoes and have found creative ways to work around this issue. Remember to keep an open mind and heart, and eventually, you will find something (or someone) who can serve as your own personal higher power.

Sponsees typically do their Fifth Step, review their moral inventory written as part of the Fourth Step, with their sponsor. The Fifth Step, as well as the Ninth Step, have been compared to confession and penitence. It might be with food, sex, gambling, or even something as nebulous as procrastination or a compulsion to gossip.

• 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.
• It is simply to move people away from threat and towards safety.
• Alcoholics Anonymous bases the 12-step program on 12 affirmations, or what they call 12 traditions.
• 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.
• They also experience an ineffable quality from becoming spiritual – one  where their feelings go beyond mere words.

This resistance to anything spiritual is the biggest obstacle some addicts confront. To beat their addiction, people must face the reality that there is indeed a power larger than themselves. Therefore, they must make an effort to establish a rapport with this higher power. Finally, someone explained to me that those things are not the spiritual malady insanity that the Big Book talks about; nor are those things why the alcoholic’s life becomes unmanageable. When I was doing my step four inventory as part of my 12 step programme of recovery  I did it pretty much as suggested in the Big Book. I had an argument with a guy once who suddenly proclaimed he was upset by what I had said.

This is because many people have had negative experiences with various religions or religious concepts in their youth. The good news is that spirituality and religion do not have to overlap in recovery. For example, a concept in 12-Step recovery is that spirituality can be faith in anything that is not oneself.

Thoughts of Recovery – No.17 – The Spiritual Malady – Step 1

• Neglecting one’s physical health can contribute to spiritual maladies, just as spiritual imbalances can impact physical well-being.
• Addicts and alcoholics may rid themselves of their drug or alcohol dependency by completing the Twelve Step process.
• David Roger Clawson, M.D., is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician with an interest in natural prevention and healing strategies for health and wellness.

Most of us hate to deal with negative thoughts or emotions—it just doesn’t feel good. These are our thought suppressions and emotional repressions that also bias the system towards threat physiology. My last blog post took us back some 4 billion years to set a foundation for deconstructing illness and disease. My intention was to build on that foundation and talk further about the evolutionary molecular and cellular mechanisms that exist in us today and determine whether we are diseased and ill versus healthy and well. My trajectory was to move from physical to mental to social, and then to spiritual illness and disease. However, given the times we are in, I find myself compelled to vault forward to the spiritual.

Getting It Off Your Chest – When is It Time to Own Up?

Everyone can take a lesson out of the spiritual principles of this organization. And although not everyone has a problem with drugs or alcohol, every person reading this right now is touched in varying degrees by some form of obsessiveness affecting them in very negative ways. It is disturbing their lives and holding them back from full peace and security. If you have found yourself or a loved one suffering from alcoholism or addiction, you are not alone! If you are ready to change your life and live free of addiction, then Find Addiction Rehabs can help. Here are some things you can do to work through your spiritual malady even if you don’t believe in God or have an understanding of your higher power.