Do you ask yourself the questions, ‘what is alcoholism or what is drug addiction really?’ because you really want to understand the nature of addiction?

So if you are one of those people, hopefully I can help. Now you need to understand that alcoholism and drug addiction can be quite complex to get a handle on.

The kind of things you would need to know to understand them in depth, would include things like whether drug addiction and alcoholism is a disease, the causes of alcoholism and addiction, and the genetic/hereditary impact on addiction and alcoholism.

It helps to know all that, but I want to take it all a step further back - deeper if you like, so that you really get it.

Yes - you may have a genetic predisposition towards addiction because of an alcoholic or addicted parent which increases the chances of you going down the same route life may be tough for numerous reasons so you use alcohol or drugs to cope, which can lead to alcoholism or drug addiction - but I think there is a far more basic, fundamental factor.

An emptiness and lack of wholeness are what I believe are the underlying reasons you use drugs or alcohol. I know the feeling because I’ve been there. You wonder what your purpose is, you feel disconnected from people - from life.

Andrew Weil, M.D., summarises it brilliantly in his book Natural Health, Natural Medicine. ‘Addiction is NOT a psychological or pharmacological problem, and CANNOT be solved by the methods of psychology or pharmacology. It is, at root, a SPIRITUAL concern, because it represents a misdirected attempt to achieve wholeness, to experience inner completeness and satisfaction.’

So coming back to the question of what is alcoholism and what is drug addiction really? Understand that they are essentially a Spiritual problem at their core. And if you remember that, you will have a head start in recovering from them successfully.