MALADY in Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous, 12 Steps and 12 Traditions

Anxiousness, depression, and boredom are a few other factors that contribute to being spiritually maladapted. For a while, that seemed to work for us but once we stopped using substances the discontentedness came back to the surface in sobriety. 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. I could identify when he went on to say, “the spiritual malady refers to a derangement of our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. These things are out of whack and not aligned.“ The process of recovery is useful to remedy this problem.

It was like a emotion web that ensnared one in increasingly frustrating states of emotional distress and inappropriate responding. The other part is that this guy, if an alcoholic like me, has real difficulties accessing in his heart and mind how he actually “feels” at any particular time.

The Spiritual Malady: Bane of the Alcoholic and Addict

The confidence that is gained by those who are more emotionally stable can aid them in decision-making and their ability to take needed risks. The third positive benefit is that someone who is obsessively seeking to improve has greater interpersonal sensitivity. Those who are seeking to be the best often seek the feedback of others and are more accepting of constructive criticism and instruction, making them more agreeable in their interactions. I have suggested clearly in previous blogs how I think AA’s 12 recovery programme helps specifically with problems of emotion dysregulation. Here we have an abnormal reaction to alcohol and for some alcoholics a maladjustment to life.

Life may feel hopeless, desolate, and totally void of meaning. We may carry the sense that we’re like the living dead, dragging ourselves through an existence that leaves us feeling nothing but pain, disappointment, and sorrow. Those who have sensitively wired nervous systems and deep feelers are at risk of developing complicated grief simply due to their personality type/disposition. This is not to say that all HSPs or empaths will develop complex grief, but for some, there is certainly the possibility – especially if there has been a history of unresolved trauma. We can also see this as years of not being able to regulate our negative emotions properly, if you wish to see them as sins. The 12 steps were influenced by the Oxford Group who said sins cut a person off from God, and that there was such a thing as sin disease.

Complicated Grief, Soul Loss, and the Dark Night of the Soul

Millions of lives have been saved not to mention the lasting benefits it has brought to families, and societies once harmed by alcoholism. It symbolizes that this was the day when one alcoholic helped another alcoholic achieve lasting sobriety. There are no individualistic programs or people simply doing their own thing, it is a collective program of action. Dr Bob like Bill Wilson had intermittently stayed sober via involvement with the Oxford Group but they had always relapsed back to drinking. I have a spiritual tool kit that deals with this emotional disease.

Not to tell the bottom of our brains to fight back or run or freeze. I can get out of the distress of wanting/needing stuff by asking God to remove those negative emotions which block me off from Him. I can manage my https://ecosoberhouse.com/ or emotional dysfunction, I have the tools to do so. This allows me to do a quick inventory of my negative emotions and a prayer to God to have them removed. My experience is that they are always removed and that we are immediately restored to sanity. 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.

Get to know your needs as an empath or highly sensitive person

Sometimes the shame persists for some time and I try to relieve it by behavioral addictions, too much shopping, too much eating, too much objectification of the opposite sex. These are all parts of my emotionally entangled web that is spun when I react to some sense of rejection. I grew up in a family that did not express emotions like the ones I had mentioned. We reacted via anger and put downs hence I have spiritual malady grown up to be dismissive. My past constantly assailed me emotionally, randomly attacking my mind. My emotions became wedded in time to being undifferentiated arousal states that prompted me to seek an external way to deal with these troubling emotional/arousal states. I explained to him that his pride had been hurt, he was in shame and his “apparent” depression every since was simply prolonged self pity.