SelfhelpMagazine

by Richard B. Patterson, Ph.D.

While many addictions have a physical component, the AA view is that All addictions have a spiritual component and that, if the addiction is not addressed at the spiritual level, the addiction will not be healed.

Let's look at alcohol for example. Why do most people drink to excess? To escape. To be transported beyond the reach of daily concerns. In short, people drink to excess because hey are looking for something outside themselves to give them comfort in the face of distress. This is a goal that is fundamentally spiritual in nature. Sometimes too people drink to excess to escape from themselves by blotting out fear, guilt, etc. Again the person is looking to something external to give them a sense of personal worth in the face of flaws and failings. This, too, is a fundamentally spiritual goal.

One of the necessary aspects of healing an addiction is to understand some of the goals of satisfying the addiction. Many of these goals, you may find, are strongly spiritual. Part of the brilliance of AA was the early recognition of this spiritual component. You might find of interest the exchange of letters between Bill W., the co-founder of AA, and the great psychiatrist Carl Jung on the spiritual aspects of addiction. Those letters can be found in the book Language of the Heart, which is a collection of Bill W.'s writings for the AA magazine Grapevine.

About the Author:

Richard B. Patterson, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in El Paso, TX. He is the author of three books on psychology and spirituality.