![]() ![]() ![]() How 12 Step Programs Can Helpįor many struggling with alcohol use disorder or alcohol addiction, the only way to overcome these feelings is to embark upon a spiritual program of action fearlessly. It is treated through dual diagnosis, which looks to address both the physical addiction and mental health issues affecting the individual. When this occurs, individuals are experiencing what experts refer to as a co-occurring disorder. Similarly, those who struggle with alcohol addiction are more susceptible to developing a mental health issue. However, it quickly becomes apparent that doing so is only masking the underlying issues. Abusing alcohol is a form of self-medicating that, at first and superficially, seems to help. Rather than providing a feeling of relief, we find ourselves in a perpetual “dark night of the soul,” cut off from any sense of spiritual comfort.įrequently, individuals who struggle with alcohol addiction are also experiencing a mental health issue like an anxiety disorder or a depressive disorder. From our time spent feeding our addictions, we feel that the opposite begins to happen. We couldn’t understand why the people surrounding us could feel happiness or contentment, so we turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of self-medicating our perceived shortcomings. Many of us felt that there was something wrong with us or something missing-in short, we felt different from other people. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous refers to the symptoms of the spiritual malady as “bedevilments,” explaining that “we were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people.” These feelings, often simplified as restlessness, irritability, and discontentment, led them toward substances to relieve their spiritual pain. ![]() Many men and women in AA describe certain feelings they had before picking up a drink or drug. We offer extensive detox and therapies to help individuals address the physical aspects of the disease as well as the psychological and spiritual aspects. It affects every aspect of our lives and must be overcome if we wish to fix ourselves mentally and physically.Īt Oceanfront Recovery, our team of addiction treatment professionals understands how to approach alcohol addiction as the chronic disease it is. The spiritual malady, however, can be seen as an inward unmanageability. In the first step of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), we “admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable.” We certainly have proof of the unmanageability of our lives from our past, our actions, and the mental and physical effects of those actions. The disease of alcohol and drug addiction is not just mental and physical but also spiritual. Her research interests and collaborations are focused on expanding the use of community based participatory research models within rehabilitation populations, improving community participation after acquired disability, reducing negative mental health outcomes for caregivers and family members of individuals with progressive illness, expansion of telehealth within rehabilitation populations, and development of mobile health applications for management of mood and health behaviors after acquired injury.Drug and Alcohol Rehab Center Laguna Beach CA Mickens is a funded investigator who has published on facilitators of community reintegration and resilience after spinal cord injury as well as determinants of caregiver emotional wellness during progressive neurological illness and in response to COVID 19. She has expertise in treating the emotional, cognitive, and social aspects of adaptation to acquired disability after spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, amputation, and progressive neurological disorders.Īs a clinician-scientist, Dr. She provides psychotherapy and neuropsychological assessment on the Inpatient Spinal Cord Injury Unit at the UPMC Rehabilitation Institute at Mercy Hospital. Mickens is a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialized practice in rehabilitation psychology and neuropsychology. ![]()
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