Publications

Spiritual Awakening Aids Recovery

New evidence suggests that spiritual orientation may play a role in recovery. Previous studies offer evidence that spirituality increases after recovery, that greater spirituality is associated with longer recovery, and that those who reported a spiritual awakening during participation in a 12-Step program were much more likely to report total abstinence after 3 years than were those who never experienced a spiritual awakening.

Researchers sought to more precisely determine the role of spiritual change in patients in recovery by examining the relationship between 12-Step involvement, spiritual change, and reduction in alcohol and drug use. Specifically, the study was designed to identify whether the recovery benefits of spiritual change might simply be an unrelated side effect of 12-Step involvement, whether spiritual change helps drive the benefits of 12-Step involvement, or whether spiritual change has a beneficial effect independent of 12-Step involvement.

The study followed 733 patients admitted for treatment. A questionnaire was administered at intake, and again after 12 months. Seventy-three percent of the original group, or 537 patients, were successfully followed through 12 months. The questionnaire measured spirituality through the Religious Background and Behaviors scale (RBB), as well as a single question regarding spiritual awakening or conversion. At the conclusion of the study participants were also asked if they had been abstinent from alcohol and drugs for the past 30 days.

The study found that 61% of participants achieved 30-day abstinence after 12 months. Further, 27% reported a spiritual awakening at study onset, and another 22% reported a spiritual awakening during treatment. Abstinence rates among those who experienced a spiritual awakening during treatment were significantly higher than those who experienced no change (82% versus 55%). Level of spirituality at study outset had no association with treatment outcomes.

A similar benefit was found for those who increased their involvement in the 12-Step program over the course of treatment as compared to those who decreased or had no change in involvement (72% versus 47%). Significantly, an increase in 12-Step involvement was associated with higher RBB scores and higher odds of a spiritual awakening. Further analyses suggested that the effects of 12-Step involvement on treatment outcomes were partially due to the effects of 12-Step involvement on spirituality.

The author concludes that spiritual change helps explain the relationship between increases in 12-Step involvement and better treatment outcomes while also confirming that baseline religiosity is a poor predictor of treatment outcomes.

(Zemore, SE: A role for spiritual change in the benefits of 12-Step involvement. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31: 76S–79S, 2007.)

Key words –

Related posts:

1. Like It or Not, Spirituality Actually Aids Recovery!
2. Science Looks at Spirituality in Recovery
3. Spirituality in Recovery
4. Recovery and Spirituality Linked
5. Predictors of Long-Term Recovery