Religiousness and Spirituality as Possible Recovery Variables in Treated and Natural Recoveries

Abstract

Treatment and natural recovered (TR/NR), current alcohol-dependent (CAD), and nonalcohol-dependent (NAD) individuals were compared on the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality (Idler et al., 2003). For convenience, participants were sampled from the Greater Toronto Area for the retrospective study. The TR/NAD groups had higher overall spirituality levels including the domains of private religious practices and daily spiritual experiences than the NR/CAD groups. The TR, NR, and NAD groups had higher levels of the religiousness domain of religious commitment, and higher levels of the spirituality domains of values/beliefs and forgiveness than the CAD group. Fifty percent of the TR and 25% of the NR groups considered spirituality important for maintenance of recovery, even though the latter group had low levels of the construct.

Key Words:

• Treatment recovered
• natural recovered
• religiousness
• spirituality