The Missing Piece ~ The Spiritual Malady Alcoholics Anonymous

It’s the daily racing thoughts of when you’re going to get your next fix or how much you wish you had your substance of choice right now. Calling it a craving can trick our minds into thinking we’re doomed to fail again. Here at The Redpoint Center, we believe in healing at the cellular level. This includes addressing the mental, physical, and spiritual elements of addiction.

Thrive Treatment Now Offers a Full Continuum of Care: From Detox to Outpatient Support

Our expert, evidence-based clinical programs provide our clients with the tools needed to thrive. Taking responsibility doesn’t stop at declaring that we need help and making the brave decision to find treatment. Throughout the recovery process, responsibility is drug addiction treatment preached and expected at all times, from both us and the people we surround ourselves with. As The Big Book states, in time, responsibility will become such a large part of our recovery journey that we will even “awaken to a new sense of responsibility for others” as well. It is not just the 12-Steps that we work diligently and deeply.

Celebrating Our Team: Christy Bass – Program Coordinator

After overcoming homelessness and drug addiction, Adam found his life’s purpose in helping addicts find the same freedom he found. As Founder and Executive Director of the 501(c)3 nonprofit, Recovered On Purpose, and Managing Partner of Behavioral Health Partners, Adam has helped thousands find freedom from addiction all over the world. These struggles are symptoms of the spiritual malady, which must be addressed through the 12 Steps to achieve lasting sobriety and freedom. An environment that is supportive and appreciates the spiritual aspects of addiction is crucial for sustained recovery. Maintaining close relationships with AA sponsors is critical, particularly in the first year of recovery, to avoid distractions and stay focused on healing. Engaging in acts of service is a powerful way to foster empathy, strengthen spiritual foundations, and counteract feelings of isolation.

The Threefold Nature of AUD (According to AA)

The fundamental issue with a substance use disorder is that there are no predictable factors that make someone more prone to the disorder than another. In fact, studies have been done on twins to try to determine if there is a genetic predisposition for a substance use disorder, typically with mixed results. As there is no specific reason that someone grows to have a substance use disorder, there’s no defining factor or characteristic that might make someone’s obsession turn light or dark. The good news is that properly treated, those in recovery from the disorder are often able to, with continued growth, use this quality in order to be very successful.

The agony and isolation of knowing that I was definitely an alcoholic but definitely not ready to stop drinking crushed me. Those who are recovering from drug or alcohol abuse can significantly benefit from finding spirituality. Even seemingly minuscule spiritual experiences can demolish close-mindedness and ignorance while cultivating our sense of purpose. Replacing self-centeredness with love and tolerance of others, we begin to strive to be the best version of ourselves and ultimately aid in helping others achieve the same. In order for an alcoholic to recover, not only must there be healing in the brain but within the character and heart as well. I experienced this healing and change through working the 12 steps.

This is about the effect that our drug of choice (alcohol for alcoholics) has on us. The addict, enmeshed in spiritual disease and mental obsession, can’t have ‘just a little bit’ of their drug. They give themselves to it in ways that others don’t.

• I can’t because I have a disease that makes me and alcohol totally incompatible.
• According to the International Journal of Yoga (IJOY), “Therapeutic yoga is defined as the application of yoga postures and practice to the treatment of health conditions.
• Because its exactly like allergies; For example, some people can rub their face in a cat’s fur and it doesn’t bother them a bit.
• “I know, I know. Spiritual, mental, physical, blah blah blah.” Obviously at 10 months sober I knew the program better than anyone else and consequently had ALL the answers.

physical, mental & spiritual recovery

Recovery is found by working the 12-Steps, but it’s about recovering, healing, and getting well in every https://rbseguide.com/10-natural-remedies-for-alcohol-withdrawal-ark/ aspect of our life. These are the lifelong habits that are started and taught at Jaywalker Lodge as a comprehensive initiation into a life of recovery. What we are experiencing is mental obsession, which is what happens after the craving occurs.

Step 1 says ‘we were powerless over alcohol’ (or whatever drug). It’s not that alcohol itself is the problem, but the powerlessness over it. It’s the allergic reaction that the drug causes.

Critics argue that the term “spiritual malady” might miss the scientific nuances of addiction, which include brain chemistry alterations and cognitive distortions. Also, the concept can be seen as judgmental, focusing too much on personal flaws and moral failings as root causes of addiction. A spiritual malady in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) refers to a feeling of inner restlessness, disconnection, and unfulfillment that many people struggling with addiction experience. It’s part of a three-part model of alcohol use disorder (AUD), which includes physical craving, mental obsession, and spiritual disconnect. The physical allergy is the concept that once a drink or a drug enters the body of an individual with alcohol use disorder (AUD) or substance use disorder (SUD), they cannot stop. Now, the inability to stop drinking or using is the allergy part.

• In the 12-Step Program, integrating a higher power into our lives is a cornerstone of combating addiction.
• As long as this Higher Power is something that can be relied upon for supreme guidance when the mental obsession kicks in or the physical allergy begins to take hold.
• The spiritual malady is the idea that people with AUD or SUD are missing something essential in their lives that they then try to fill with alcohol or drugs.

Want to display this recovery calculator on your own web page?

But after we have a little time and experience in the 12-Step program, we will likely want to address our professional lives — especially because this area of our lives is often grievously affected by the disease. Through active engagement with the Twelve Steps and the program of spiritual malady definition recovery, we find ourselves presented with lessons and opportunities that allow us to repair and improve our professional lives. Many alcoholics and addicts in recovery find themselves gainfully re-employed, receiving better employment than they ever thought possible, or even returning to school to secure more beneficial employment.

And unless this malady is recognized, and a course of action (the  Twelve Steps) is taken to enable God to remove it, the root of our alcoholic illness can lie dormant and  burn us when we least expect it. People in the room of 12 Step fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous will recognize these underlying causes and conditions with little problem. 12 Step fellowships define addiction or alcoholism as a physical allergy, mental obsession and spiritual malady. The Big Book describes is as feelings of being “restless, irritable and content” while sober.