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Originally Posted by Em002  Thanks for the replies but I think i wasn't clear in my first post. I don't have depression I was just using that as an example. That is another mental health problem and I was just trying to say why is alcoholism treated they way it is but with other mental health problems it is not. People don't need to tell people they are sorry for what they did why they were depressed or look into their personality defects its treated as you have a disease not a problem with your way of living. DOes that make more sense? |
Thank you. I have a better understanding of your question now. The common belief in AA is that alcoholism is a 3 part illness which includes the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, the program of AA adresses these issues. It does not treat chemical depression, OCD, Bi-polar, or any other mental health problems. It simply addresses how to deal with alcoholism. A spiritual approach is not going to make a bi-polar illness better. A spiritual program or a program aimed at the body not the mind is not going to help cure or relieve the symptoms of a chemical depression. AA is simply about alcoholism. Yes, it does provide a positive way to live, how much more positive can a way of life be than one that is about changing our lives to become a useful to others. There is a difference between character defects; selfishness, dishonesty, greed, lust, etc.... and mental health issues such as personality disorder, depression, etc... Just as there are different ways to deal with them. The program of AA addresses the character defects but does not offer itself as a solution to mental illness because it is not. Hope that helps to answer your question.
By the way it is a good question. Thank you for asking as I needed to organize the answer in my head as I had never really given it a lot of thought.