Content
It is our experience that the problem is not the substance; the problem is the disease of addiction. We have also found that the disease of addiction is not limited to any one substance and that to be sober we need to be free from all mind-altering substances. These emotion processing deficits also appear to make us more impulsive, and to choose lesser short term gain over greater long term gain in decision making. So we have issues with emotions and somatic/body feeling states. Anxiousness, depression, and boredom are a few other factors that contribute to being spiritually maladapted.
- It is not easy to do so but recognizing this aspect of alcoholism forces us to take an honest look in the mirror at our behaviors and attitudes toward life and other people.
- It is the conversation we have with ourselves our entire lives.
- Especially being alcoholic more often than not, it is our nature to have that “my way or the highway” mentality.
- Although the medical treatment of such addictions is symptomatically effective and cost-efficient, symptom reduction is only part of the solution.
It is emotionally healthy to surrender and accept things over which we have no control. For many recovering alcoholics this may be another unpalatable truth, that they have issues with emotional responding, with being emotionally mature. If further validation is required I suggest a frank conversation with a loved one, wife, husband, child, parent, etc. One of spiritual malady 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.
Of Treatment.*
Fear and resentment dominated my thoughts and I made decisions based on self which caused me harm and harmed others. I want to make clear to members that these thoughts are not definitive treatise on the subjects. Just an attempt to stimulate thought or discussion and provide information based on my study and experience.
For others, it may manifest as anger, anxiety, or depression. 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. If you wish to contact a specific medical detox center then find a specific treatment center using our addiction treatment locator tool. You don’t have to go to AA and do the 12 steps if you don’t want to.
What’s the Difference Between Craving and Mental Obsession?
All a spiritual experience is, is a deep and profound “emotional rearrangement” . All an “emotional rearrangement” means is a shift in perception, or in plain speak, seeing things differently. I liken self-obsession to being in a prison of your own mind. It feels like being consumed with what you want and don’t want, what others think of you, whether they like you, what you can do about that, and wishing things worked out the way you want them to all the time.
If you have found yourself at a crossroads in your treatment and feel like your program options don’t fully understand you or aspects of your recovery, it’s time to contact the specialists at Alta Loma. We will help you craft the ideal care plan and secure the support you need, quickly, to avoid unnecessary problems. At Alta Loma, that’s our mission — to provide each individual with optimum care for the wellbeing they deserve.
Recovery is a Journey
It doesn’t matter what your Higher Power is; what matters is that you believe in something that can help guide and support you on your journey to recovery. In sobriety, it is so important to maintain consciouscontact with a higher powerand 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. 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.
He said, “spiritual simply refers to that which is not material. This means those things that are not solid- such as our thoughts, our beliefs, our emotions- are what is spiritual. When we say that alcoholism or drug addiction is ‘a spiritual malady’, it means that our disease in centered in these things . 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. We use everything and everyone, even when we stop using alcohol and drugs to cope with thesefeelings of being unsatisfied and uncomfortable in life.
