“Addiction tries to make a spiritual experience static. When we are in an addictive process, we want to hold on to the moment, not feeling the discomfort of the longing but attempting to maintain what we feel in an instant. Our spirituality becomes stagnate and the addiction leads us into a deep bondage with a substance or process.” – Jim Seckman
Substance abuse is a major health and social problem. There are estimated 22.2 million people in the U.S. with substance dependence. It is estimated that worldwide there are nearly ¼ million deaths yearly as a result of illicit drug use which includes unintentional overdoses, suicides, HIV and AIDS, and trauma. In the U.S. about 17 million people abuse alcohol. Drunk driving fatalities accounted for over 10,000 deaths annually and including all causes alcohol abuse accounts for around 90,000 deaths each year, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Drug and alcohol addictions are very difficult to kick and if successful about half the time the individual will relapse. So, there have been developed a number of programs to help the addict recover and prevent relapse. The 12 step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, etc. have been as successful as any programs in treating addictions. These programs insist that spirituality is essential to recovery. Indeed, addiction is described as a “spiritual, physical, and emotional” problem. It appears that spirituality is highly associated with successful treatment and relapse preventions as demonstrated in a number of research studies (see links below).
In today’s Research News article “NIDA-Drug Addiction Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) Relapse as a Function of Spirituality/Religiosity”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455957/
Schoenthaler and colleagues analyze the data from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Drug Addiction Treatment Outcome Study. They found that there were much higher rates of successful treatment outcomes for drug abuse when either spirituality or religious participation were high in the patients. They found that the higher the level of spirituality or religious participation the greater the likelihood that the individual will be drug free 12 months after the end of the program. This was true for alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana addictions, but not for crack cocaine addiction. The measures of spirituality and religious participation that were most clearly linked to successful outcomes were frequency of attending religious services, reading religious books watching religious programs and meditation/prayer
It should be pointed out that as impressive as these results are, they do not prove that spirituality and religious participation were the cause of improved addiction recovery. There was not a manipulation so there may be other factors that both increase addiction recovery and simultaneously spirituality and religious participation. These could include the support of a religious community, or that people who tend toward spirituality and religious participation are also good candidates for addiction recovery, or the belief that spirituality and religious participation would help.
Why is spirituality and religious participation associated with better outcomes? One possible reason is that spirituality provides a source of comfort as the individual faces the challenges of recovery. Spirituality may provide another way to cope with the individual’s problems. The individual can take solace in the Devine instead of drugs when upheavals occur. This can help to break the vicious cycle, making it possible to deal with the addiction. Spirituality and religious participation can provide the recognition that help is needed, that they can’t control the addiction without outside assistance. The addict then can allow fellow addicts, people close to them, or therapists to provide needed assistance when the urge to use the drug begins to overwhelm the individual’s will to stop. The recognition that there are greater powers than themselves makes it easier to ask for and accept assistance.
It has also the case that spirituality is associated with negative beliefs about drugs. Buddhism teaches that intoxication is an impediment to spiritual development. Other religions completely prohibit alcohol and drugs while many decry the behaviors that occur during alcoholic or drug induced stupor. This provides a cognitive incompatibility between drug use and spirituality. The recognition that using drugs or alcohol is not an OK thing to do might provide the extra motivation to help withstand the cravings. In addition, spiritual groups tend to be populated with non-addicts. So, increased spirituality also tends to shift the individual’s social network away from drug or alcohol using buddies to people less inclined to provide temptation. It is very difficult to stop using when those around you are not only using themselves but encouraging you. So shifting social groups to people who abstain can help tremendously.
Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a strong relationship between spirituality and religious participation and successful recovery from addiction to a variety of different substances.
“The earliest A.A. members, then, discovered that some kind of spirituality— some kind of sense of the reality of some “beyond”—was essential to their sobriety” – Ernest Kurtz
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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