In these times personal threat load is extremely high and is being reflected in systemic dysfunction. In fact, the world’s threat load is extremely high and it, too, is being reflected in systemic dysfunction. We are in a time where we need to proactively decrease threat and increase safety in the world. Here at California Detox in Laguna Beach, we can help you unpack the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of alcoholism. By using this approach, a recovering addict can experience a notable change in their outlook.

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Empirical data also demonstrates that our sense of compassion increases measurably when we can find commonality and connection with others. Compassion radiates whenever we can connect with another through shared experience. The more we can open our hearts with the awareness that suffering, failure, and imperfection are universal to the human experience, the more we are capable practicing compassion for others and for ourselves. We often take them to grave sooner rather than later unless we decide to be open and share our secrets with another person. Most of us were determined to take these secrets, these “sins” to the grave.

• Therapists will often have an individual in recovery write a goodbye letter to their drug of choice.
• One way to think of a Higher Power is simply as a force that is greater than yourself.
• Particularly notable to this discussion is what we look like in threat.
• 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.

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Failure to recognize the effects of all of our existential worries, big and small, leads to all kinds of mishaps and trouble for our species. Spiritual malady can trigger feelings of irritability, restlessness, and discontentedness. The overall sensation can feel like crawling out of your own skin. These feelings can become unmanageable – more on the unmanageability of life for alcoholics below. However, that does not mean addicts are confronting this spiritual ailment by themselves.

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There are a lot of physical threats that can flip our physiology into a defense state. One is a mobilization response where we approach, bond, empathize, love, reproduce, seek resources, share resources, problem-solve, discover, create, sing, dance, play, laugh, and experience interpersonal connections. This is frequently referred to as ‘breed and feed” physiology, although it is clearly much more than just that. The other safety phenotype is one of relative immobilization where we relax, repair, recovery, digest, defecate, contemplate, daydream, sleep, dream, and experience spiritual connections. This is frequently referred to as “digest and rest” physiology although it too is much more than that. The idea is to look for a spiritual solution to an addiction problem, as this type of issue affects more than someone physically.

Malady, pronounced “mal-uh-dee” comes from two latin words, mal meaning “bad or ill” and habitus meaning “hold, have.”  So, a spiritual malady actually means that something bad has a hold of you, which is 150% accurate. Here at The Redpoint Center, we believe in healing at the cellular level. This includes addressing the mental, physical, and spiritual elements of addiction. For example, one can engage in psychotherapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). These therapies can get to the underlying emotional issues that often lead to that first drink or drug.

One way to think of a Higher Power is simply as a force that is greater than yourself. This could be the power of nature, the universe, or even something as simple as your cats or dogs at home – perhaps their love for you and the fact that they need you to be sober is your Higher Power. 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. For example, AA rooms offer fellowship and support and provide a structure that can help keep you sober.

So, instead of fixating on the parts of the program that don’t work for you, focus on the things that do. 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.

As addicts we can become so focused on the outward form our addiction takes – whether that booze, drugs, sex, overeating, etc. – that we overlook its deep roots at the core of our being. This spiritual malady is the restless spirit, the soul sickness that if left untreated will begin to ooze symptoms of emotional insecurity worry, anger, self-pity, and depression, even if we have been sober for years. You are merely instructed to be spiritual malady open to the idea that you are not the end all be all, that there exists out in the universe something that is greater or more powerful than yourself. However, you choose to interact with that higher power is also up to you. Whether you seek to engage in formal prayer, informal mental conversations, or merely by doing good and putting positive energy into the universe, there is no right or wrong way to pray to your higher power.

• The role of physical dependence and psychological addiction in alcoholism partly explain why those with alcohol use disorder are unable to moderate or discontinue use.
• An addiction is a habit that has taken root and is now attached to our physical bodies.

The best definition may be found in the actual experience of one’s own shifts in conscious awareness. Spiritual awakenings don’t necessarily happen the way we might expect, along a timeline we prefer, or in a form obvious to us. Spiritual awakenings often evolve so gradually that they are almost imperceptible. And only when our eyes, ears, mind, and heart are fully open, are we positioned to discern, receive, and appreciate them.