The Spiritual Malady Striving to quench our thirst for by Georgeann Sack

In our addictions, we tried to quench our soul-thirst with fleeting pleasures. The pursuit of them dominated our lives, destroyed relationships, and caused greater desperation than we ever thought possible. We became selfish and self-seeking, ever thirsting for more, and this lust warped us on every level. But we were never satisfied, because but the living presence of God can quench our parched souls. The spiritual aspects of recovery and the ‘God word’ can be an obstacle for many new folks trying to get sober. Hopefully the ideas included in this short writing show that there are many ways to approach these topics. The research evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinks—particularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over time—the higher his or her risk of developing cancer. However, long term drinking can damage the liver beyond repair.

Often people like us have some of the strongest will power that exists. 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. If you wish to contact a specific medical detox center then find a specific treatment center using our addiction treatment locator tool. It is loaded with old ideas and religiosity, tainted by overuse, abuse, and centuries of bad press. It is sad that countless addicts and alcoholics have rejected 12 Step recovery because the G_d word is up on the wall and included in prayers and literature.

The Spiritual Malady

Even if this person had no such intention of hurting my feelings I would blame him nonetheless via my defensive reactions. I would add to this that I also get distress via fears of rejection from others, I suffer from fear based shame to a chronic extent. “God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference” is the Serenity Prayer used at every AA meeting. The Serenity Prayer is the greatest exercise in prioritisation. Since AA began, I’ve taken immense wallops in all these areas because of my failure to grow up, emotionally and spiritually”.

This is the type of spiritually maladapted behavior that we typically exhibit in active alcoholism. When not treating the spiritual aspect of the disease those behaviors are the types of things that will start to make life unmanageable once again. Without a connection to a higher power, it can get quite ugly in sobriety. 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. 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.

Kids Definition of malady

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. It can lead to a distress feeling state that can make us fear based, perfectionist, have catastrophic thoughts, intolerance of uncertainty, low frustration and distress tolerance, be reactionary, moody, and immature in our emotional responding. Once we are aware of these feelings we can begin the real work on ourselves. 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 towards life and other people. If we do not get spiritually connected with meditation or prayer with a power greater than us it will bring us closer and closer spiritual malady meaning to that drink or drug. In sobriety, if we are self-reliant we usually end up using anything that will make us feel good externally excessively. Unlike other diseases, addiction contains a spiritual component referred to by 12 Step recovery fellowships as a “spiritual malady.” The spiritual component of the disease is of major importance, and requires spiritual treatment to be overcome. It simply means we are spiritually blocked off from the Power of God, which enables us to remain sober, happy, joyous, and free. 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.

It was like a emotion web that ensnared one in increasingly frustrating states of emotional distress and inappropriate responding. Finding out what is really going on with us emotionally is at the heart of recovery. That is why we have to constantly share how we are feeling with others so that we can find out what we are feeling. So we have two main ailments, distressed based wanting which results in the same negative emotions as being in a shame- based fear of rejection. I contend that alcoholism is an emotional disorder which results in chemical dependency on the substance of alcohol. However in order to treat it we have to first contend with the symptomatic manifestation of this disorder, chronic alcohol use, as it is the most life threatening aspect of this disorder when we present our selves at AA. For me this section is saying our emotion dysregulation leads to feelings of being “restless, irritable and discontented” which prompt a return to drinking.

Find Addiction Rehabs is not a medical provider or treatment facility and does not provide medical advice. Find Addiction Rehabs does not endorse any treatment facility or guarantee the quality of care provided, or the results to be achieved, by any treatment facility. The information provided by Find Addiction Rehabs is not a substitute Sober Home for professional treatment advice. © 2022 | Find Addiction Rehabs Find Addiction Rehabs is not a medical provider or treatment facility and does not provide medical advice. 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.

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 spiritual malady meaning anymore, then you would have stopped long ago. Tomorrow I will look at the relationship between my self- centeredness and alcohol. Reach out to our compassionate team to begin your recovery journey.

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 Power into our lives can we hope to find a solution to our alcoholic condition. For most alcoholics and addicts like us who are familiar with the spiritual malady, obsession of the mind, and allergy of the body, the 12-Steps have been the core of the saving grace which has delivered us into brand new lives. Many of us who once suffered these triple nightmares now find that we grow more spiritually fit every day. As an alcoholic I have found I needed to grow up mentally and emotionally and I agree with the idea of emotional dysfunctionality which I believe is caused, probably, by past trauma or attachment issues. This means that I have hyper-sensitivity and can be over-reactive but I do not believe that I am in any way spiritually deficit. This is a Judea-Christian belief structure of bad versus good and I believe that I did not join AA to become good but well. AA may have started within the Oxford Group but has gradually moved away from their tenets.

This does not mean that they removed themselves from religion, although the two can be synonymous, but it simply means that within their soul or the core of their being, they suffer from a profound loneliness. On page 62 the text explains that“Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.”This“SELFISHNESS-self-centeredness”(or the “ego”, as some people refer to it) drives us to respond to life situations with the above “symptoms” as well as disorders and addictions other than alcoholism. When I accepted that the ‘spiritual malady’ was about my beliefs, thoughts, and emotions, I came to see that many of my own beliefs and thoughts on this subject were contributing to my disease. I had many old ideas and prejudices that had to be examined and released. Oftentimes the barriers that might stop someone from sharing feelings sober are in a sense block, and there is no “filter” to stop the thoughts. Other side effects of a CNS depressant can be found below. So what do these three parts of the illness of alcoholism and addiction mean? Here is a simple breakdown to help understand the definition as defined by AA and NA. MARR Addiction Treatment Centers specialize in treating individuals whose lives have been destroyed by addiction.