Addiction and Mental Illness

Why does addiction have to exist? Why can’t we be protected from all harmful substances – from heroin to pesticides? Why can’t we be born into an environment of support, understanding, wisdom, love and harmony that would help us avoid the pitfall of addiction?

Addiction provides SO MANY challenges to block our way, pitfalls to get lost in, and falsities to misguide, weaken and frighten us.

I have watched a beloved member of my family fight addiction to drugs and alcohol for years and years. This is a kind, loving, funny, strong, loyal, helpful and delightful person of deep insight and perception. Addiction manifested early in this person’s life – with a group of experimenting friends, some of whom died young, some who did not succumb as fully, and some who are still figuring out how to be free of this burden. This soul-wrenching challenge brings them to their knees over and over again. I am grateful for AA, for the sponsors that show up repeatedly, and for the slow progress to stability, self-knowledge and personal wellbeing. (I know there are other pathways to recovery as well.) I am also grateful for family members that embrace and support our beloved one reliably, despite the pain we experience. We have had to learn to mitigate our disappointment and worry, to accept what is, what lines to draw and how to draw them in a way that is most helpful but does not harm us.

And then there’s mental illness. Two members of my immediate family were diagnosed as schizophrenic. More distant family members have been diagnosed as bipolar, “on the spectrum.” depressed, and borderline personality. I have to say I have my doubts about many of these diagnoses. Are the symptoms that allow categorization into these ever-newly created diagnoses simply responses to the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical environment we are born to? Are the medications simply to keep those with reactions to our culture “manageable?”

I feel I understand the reason for the existence of addiction and other obstacles to our wellbeing. I believe we choose them before stepping into life. I believe that we navigate multiple incarnations that include severe challenges of body, mind, and more – that result in increased wisdom as a result of encountering and rising up above these conditions – and sometimes wisdom gained by failing to overcome the challenges.

One of my tasks as a shamanic practitioner is to assist those who have died but have not come to terms with their lives. Often they have not been able to forgive themselves for the steps they took in their lives. Because of this (or for other reasons), they cannot move on or return to Source, to Spirit, to God. Engaging with and assisting these lost souls has taught me a great deal about the unfoldment of life, about forgiveness of self and others, and about how we gain knowledge.

Another task is to help those still living to heal their trauma. I am grateful for having landed in a place where I can help to mitigate the challenges, to show a way forward, call forth wellbeing and self love.

There are many who do not find their way to help, who are lost in the fog of addiction, mental illness and other obstacles to wellbeing. Some of them are people I love; some of them may be people you love. Our options are to either stand by or let go, hopefully in love.

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