This is greatly inspirational for those who have just come into the room when the mountain looks impossible to climb. Seeing the same traits that were harmful before, turn to assets and lead to a more incredible life is often the first thing that attracts newer members to recovery. 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 https://ecosoberhouse.com/.

• AA’s 12 steps are a spiritual program of recovery but at the heart of that spirituality is the role of sponsoring.
• Was trying to relay in a far more easily digestible fashion.
• In sobriety, if we are self-reliant we usually end up using anything that will make us feel good externally excessively.
• My stop button broke a long time a ago and probably did not work very well to begin with.
• But when it comes to alcohol and drugs, there is no will power.

There are many men and women who felt the same way and have been able to overcome the malady by maintaining spiritual fitness and practicing the principles of AA in all of their affairs. The 12-Steps focus on addressing and fixing the spiritual problems that led us into our addiction, and by doing so, we find that they allow us to positively change our mental and physical issues. Frequently, individuals who struggle with alcohol addiction are also experiencing a mental health issue like an anxiety disorder or a depressive disorder. Abusing alcohol is a form of self-medicating that, at first and superficially, seems to help. However, it quickly becomes apparent that doing so is only masking the underlying issues.

What listeners say about 137: Overcoming the Spiritual Malady with Bill Ward

That will be lifted if you correctly follow the twelve steps in the book. Alcoholics Anonymous, the book that was created in the late 1930s was used to get people sober. Alcoholics would read and follow the steps in the book and get sober. It is emotionally healthy to be altruistic – to help others without question or expectation. I end, however, with some words from a doctor who seems to be suggesting that AA works because it makes us more emotionally healthy.

Anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding. Our spiritual malady causes us to be restless, irritable, and discontented. The reason we cannot just quit is that our mind constantly has us believe that we can control and enjoy our drinking. No matter what the consequences were in the past, our mind will be obsessed with the thought of drinking. The three must be addressed to find healing, recovery, and to live life sober.

What is a “Spiritual Malady”?

The spiritual malady is the result of my being out of order with my higher power who I choose to call God. I was the director in the drama of life and managing the world so I could get what I thought I needed to feel ok. Fear and resentment dominated my thoughts and I made decisions based on self which caused me harm and harmed others. In sobriety, it is so important to maintain conscious contact with a higher power and count our blessings. Being spiritually maladapted can come from a lack of gratitude. We must live our lives selflessly and show our gratitude to a higher power for the lives that we live and the opportunity to have a second chance at life.

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 spiritual malady no control whatsoever over alcohol or drugs. When we have the first sip of a drink, or whiff of a drug, it is then controlling our bodies. Once we indulge in the first drink, our judgment and normal concerns are skewed.

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Many people who are in need of recovery resist it knowing that the solution is spiritual. The desire to avoid connection with the spiritual aspects of the self are embedded in the nature of addiction. The avoidance of spirituality keeps the addict in addiction long after the desire to return to whole and healthy living is sparked.

• I did not realise that the engine driving this emotion dysregulation was chronic shame.
• It was a list of the negative emotions which appear always when I felt anger and resentment against someone for hurting me and my feelings.
• If further validation is required I suggest a frank conversation with a loved one, wife, husband, child, parent, etc.
• I end, however, with some words from a doctor who seems to be suggesting that AA works because it makes us more emotionally healthy.

But when it comes to alcohol and drugs, there is no will power. The reason is that our reaction to alcohol and drugs is physical, it’s not mental. One of the earliest studies on AA members concluded that they were linked in commonality by two variables, emotional immaturity and grandiosity! I would contend that grandiosity is a part of emotional immaturity. I also contend that our “maladjustment to life” is based on emotional immaturity which is in itself a function of emotion regulation and processing deficits.

The Missing Piece: The Spiritual Malady

Rather than providing a feeling of relief, we find ourselves in a perpetual “dark night of the soul,” cut off from any sense of spiritual comfort. I am aware that there are many paths to recovery- my path has been the 12-Steps. While this may not be for everybody, the principles contained within the steps and the program are applicable and useful to anyone seeking sobriety and recovery. One of the key features of addiction is the loss of control. No one wakes up one day and says, “I want to be an addict” – that’s absurd. That was certainly not my case in my alcoholism or the other forms of addiction that I have experienced over my lifetime.

What we used once to regulate negative emotions and a sense of self has eventually come to regulate our emotions to such an extent that any distress leads to the compulsive response of drinking. Alcoholics had become a compulsive disorder to relief distress not to induce pleasure.

The Mind is also Abnormal

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. 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. We have found that these problems no longer exist for us when we begin living by spiritual principles and improving our conscious contact with our higher power.

Spiritually, we have a difficult time connecting to a higher power. It is common to find yourself being angry at God or saying things like “if God was real this wouldn’t have happened to me” or not understanding why things are the way they are. Finally, someone explained to me that those things are not the insanity that the Big Book talks about; nor are those things why the alcoholic’s life becomes unmanageable. 10 minutes of Tips & Strategies to grow your mind and business. The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider. Four years of weekly big book meetings and I think I am finally getting it. I look at the past fleetingly sometimes to help others but I never stare at it too long.