When left unresolved, a spiritual malady will continue to lead to restlessness, irritability, and discontentment. It can also lead to other problems, such as alcohol abuse or other addictions. If you are struggling with alcoholism or any other addiction, it is important to seek help from AA or another 12-step program. Although we are not physically compelled to that first drink or drug if we give in to the obsession we find ourselves waking up in jail cells or our loved ones are upset with us or left with no money in our bank accounts and have no idea what had happened the night before. Unlike normal people (whatever that means) 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.

It may be the melancholy of the evening in which I am writing, but the truth is I’m talking about an inextricable knot of good and evil, of light and shade inherent in reading and literature. It’s a difficulty that, according to Gombrowicz, good literature has as the product of an instinct spiritual malady to sharpen spiritual life. There are times when I would recommend reading to my worst enemies. In addition to individual differences in manifestations of spiritual struggle, cultural differences may exist in how struggle is expressed (e.g., Pargament, 1983; Rubin & Yasien-Esmael, 2004).

Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-Step Program

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. Here at The Redpoint Center, we believe in healing at the cellular level. This includes addressing the mental, physical, and spiritual elements of addiction.

• In the present sample, most students indicated they were at least slightly religious (64.1% at Time 1 and 59.2% at Time 2) and at least slightly spiritual (73.5% at Time 1 and 70.6% at Time 2).
• The summation of physical threats, spiritual threats, shadow threats, and existential threat is our total threat load.
• Whatever way you wish to process your grief is totally fine and important to honor.

Hopefully the ideas included in this short writing show that there are many ways to approach these topics. 1It is important to note that some negative cognitions may reflect objective appraisals of a negative situation, such as likelihood of recurrent exposure. Spiritual malady At Time 1, participants reported levels of psychological distress using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian (PCL; Blanchard, Jones-Alexander, Buckley, & Forneris, 1996), a widely used self-report measure that corresponds with diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Reappraisal of God’s Powers as partial mediator of the relationship between trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms, controlling for baseline PTSD symptoms. Demonic Reappraisal does not mediate the relationship between trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms, controlling for baseline PTSD symptoms.

The Spiritual Malady: Bane of the Alcoholic and Addict

My commitment to continuous learning and collaboration makes me an asset to the healthcare community. It doesn’t have to be religious – it can be anything that gives you strength and hope. For some people, nature or the universe might be their Higher Power.