Addictions Counseling

The Search for Bliss

Addictions counseling can be a very effective way to get sober and stay clean, while expanding your self-knowledge, self-acceptance, peace of mind, and true happiness. Most addiction treatment includes a spiritual component - as in AA and the many other 12-Step Programs that have been a life-saver to millions the world over.

Whether or not you choose to use a 12-Step Group, it is extremely valuable to view addictions, and recovery as a spiritual issue. Spirituality and Religion are NOT the same thing. Religion is based on a set of rules and beliefs in order to be accepted as a part of a particular group. Spirituality is your personal method of contacting your Higher Power, in whatever form has meaning for you.

Transpersonal Psychologist Christina Grof's book, "The Thirst for Wholeness" addresses this perspective - that we are all seeking transcendental states of consciousness - spiritual wholeness, and that addiction is an ineffective attempt to alleviate the pain and isolation of feeling spiritually cut off.

It is part of the human condition to avoid pain and seek pleasure. In families of abuse, neglect, dysfunctional relationships, or emotional pain, alcohol or other drugs may have been a way out of pain. But the deeper drive is the desire for spiritual connection. In a healthy infancy, we receive good, attentive, nurturing parenting, and feel a deep and secure attachment to the mother (or father) that cares for us. This healthy attachment allows us to go forward in our development with a feeling of trust, safety and faith that we are part of some greater benevolent essence in the universe - God/Goddess, Source, Spirit, or whatever name you may choose. And this early experience allows us to more easily open up to that divine connection or experience of Oneness.

When our early attachment is absent or flawed, we grow up with a deep unfulfilled desire for the absolute love and bliss we were deprived of in this early stage of life. The pain of that loss is so great, that we can fall into depression, anxiety, and self-destructive habits - addictions - in a desperate effort to destroy the mind and experience this unified state of consciousness. But the mind cannot be conquered this way. You only become more trapped and enslaved by the ego-mind.

Only authentic spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer, chanting, ritual and so on, can liberate your from your own negative, limited mind. Transpersonal Psychotherapy is another excellent method for developing your spiritual awareness and expanding the sense of Self beyond the isolated ego-mind; this form of therapy is very compatible with addictions counseling. EFT/Meridian Tapping can be another excellent method to resolve core issues and past traumas that have led to current addictive behaviors, and can also be used to quickly eliminate addictive cravings as they occur.

Learn more about the basic technique of EFT in Addictions Counseling

For more information about Addictions Counseling in Santa Rosa, CA, or for counseling by Phone/Skype, contact Ben Schwarcz at 707-326-5566.

If you'd like to schedule a session, please complete the form below and you will be contacted within 1-2 days.