When a person is afflicted with an addiction or mental health dysfunction, they are suffering two distinct disorders they can’t shake. One is the visible behaviour that handicaps or misrepresents them. The other is their perception of self that is damaged, insufficient, or even artificially inflated. This latter is invisible. It may have resulted from the behaviour or, more often, preceded it. Regardless, at this stage, they feed each other in a downward spiral of self-destruction and possibly death – death of the body and all the connections associated with it, again visible and thus seemingly paramount, and death of the soul, invisible, undefinable, but the driving force of purpose, meaning, and hope.

 

We have learned to help them manage their visible problem, or at least, restrain it under our supervision. We may also have applied it to their invisible problem, driven by our own desires and personal experiences. It is possible, however, to solidify this desirable but not always consistent rendition as a somewhat structured technique into our repertoire and skills-set so we can reach that invisible but essential area with ease and impact and teach clients to strengthen it with insight and discernment. It is a frequent discovery that, by reaching and strengthening that perception of self, the other area of behaviour management can be easier and more effectively achieved as the participation of the client becomes more resolved.

Let’s constructively build Self-Actualization into Addiction and Mental Health Rehabilitation.