Spirituality in the therapeutic process

When we refer to spirituality we are talking of the deep inner image that people often have of themselves. The Abacus graphically demonstrates the inner feelings of many people who suffer from depression, anxiety or addictions. All the beads are on the negative side and this inevitably has a knock on effect in the way they see themselves and the way in which they act towards others.

People may imagine that if an alcoholic simply reduced their drinking then they would be a very much happier person. Unfortunately the high levels of guilt and shame experienced through this type of illness prevent such a simple reaction. Sufferers often resort to alcohol again as the only way they know to calm these powerful emotions. It is a vicious circle scenario. The same is true of those who experience deep depression. The sufferer is left feeling guilty and ashamed by their pain as they can often feel that they should not feel this way; that they should be able to cope with life on a daily basis. Rather than seeing themselves as being ill and needing to get better, they can see themselves as weak and trying to be strong. In some cases, especially where people have religious beliefs, they may even interpret the illness as some kind of punishment imposed on them by God.

Our therapy tries to look at these problems and perceptions with the aim of helping people to re-frame the way they understand themselves, how they fit into the world and the value they attach to their own existence. It would be foolish to imagine that simply changing self image could bring about miracles in itself, but the purpose of the spiritual element in our work is to put people back into a position where they can begin to move towards a place where the beads on the Abacus are more evenly distributed.

In this way, people are able to have a more positive picture of themselves. This leads them to want to be different. A person can always do what they want to do, but can be more reluctant to do what they ought to do; especially for long periods of time. The diet industry is the perfect example of this in practice. The last of AA's 12 Steps talks about having a Spiritual Awakening rather than simply having become sober, which was in fact a pre-requisite to Step One.