Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Exploring the Relationships between Spirituality and Personality Disorder Traits among a Sample of In-Patients in Treatment for Substance Use Disorder

  • Published:
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Personality disorders (PD) complicate the treatment of individuals with substance use disorders. Spirituality has been shown to be a protective factor in the treatment of addiction but very little research has explored how spirituality may differ among individuals in treatment for substance use issues who present with clinical and non-clinical levels of PD traits. This study examined the relationship between spirituality and PD traits among 305 clients recruited from a residential substance abuse treatment center. Results indicated that the existential well-being dimension of spirituality was a statistically significant predictor of most PD trait levels. In addition, the religious well-being dimension was a statistically significant predictor of Narcissistic traits. However, the clinical significance of these results may be limited due to the relatively low amount of variance in PD trait levels explained by the spirituality dimensions. Clinical implications for the treatment of individuals experiencing comorbid PDs and substance use disorders were discussed highlighting the potential benefit of focusing on therapeutic techniques that would help these clients develop existential well-being in their lives rather than a relationship with a Higher Power.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. (2001). Alcoholics anonymous: The story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism (4th ed.). New York: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, K., Shepard, J., & Janca, A. (2013). Personality disorders and spirituality. Current Opinions in Psychiatry, 26, 79–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cacciola, J., Alterman, A., McKay, J., & Rutherford, M. (2001). Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with substance use disorders: do not forget Axis II disorders. Psychiatric Annals, 31(5), 321–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calsyn, D. A., Wells, E. A., Fleming, C., & Saxon, A. J. (2000). Changes in millon clinical multiaxial inventory scores among opiate addicts as a function of retention in methadone maintenance treatment and recent drug use. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 26(2), 297–309.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Canda, E. R., & Furman, L. D. (2010). Spiritual diversity in social work practice. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrico, A. W., Gifford, E. V., & Moos, R. H. (2007). Spirituality/religiosity promotes acceptance-based responding and 12-step involvement. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 89, 66–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, E. Y., Brown, M. Z., Harned, M. S., & Linehan, M. M. (2009). A comparison of borderline personality disorder with and without eating disorders. Psychiatry Research, 170, 86–90.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, R. J. (2005). Alternative interpretations for the histrionic, narcissistic, and compulsive personality disorder scales of the MCMI-III. In R. J. Craig (Ed.), New directions in interpreting the millon clinical multiaxial inventory-III (MCMI-III) (pp. 71–93). Hoboken: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, R. J., & Olson, R. E. (1998). Stability of the MCMI-III in a substance-abusing inpatient sample. Psychological Report, 83(3), 1273–1274.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, R. J., & Olson, R. E. (2001). Adjective descriptions of personality disorders: a convergent validity study of the MCMI-III. Journal of Personality Assessment, 77(2), 259–271.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, N., Horton, E. G., McIlveen, J., Weiner, M., & Williams, L. B. (2011a). Spirituality, religiosity and depressive symptoms among inpatient substance abusers. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 30(1), 71–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, N., Horton, E. G., Green, D., McIlveen, J., Weiner, M., & Mullaney, D. (2011b). Relationship between spirituality and depressive symptoms among individuals who abuse substances. Counseling and Values, 56(1), 43–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, N., Horton, E. G., & Weiner, M. (2012). Dysthymia, major depression and double depression among individuals receiving substance abuse treatment. Health, 4(12), 1229–1237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Tay, L., & Myers, D. G. (2011). The religion paradox: if religion makes people happy, who are so many dropping out? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1278–1290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dimaggio, G., D’Urzo, M., Pasinetti, M., Salvatore, G., Lysaker, P. H., Catania, D., & Popolo, R. (2015). Metacognitive interpersonal therapy for co-occurrent avoidant personality disorder and substance abuse. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 71(2), 157–166.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edlund, M. J., Harris, K. M., Koenig, H. G., Han, X., Sullivan, G., Mattox, R., & Tang, L. (2010). Religiosity and decreased risk of substance use disorders: is the effect mediated by social support or mental health status? Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45, 827–836.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, C. W. (1983). Spiritual well-being: conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 11, 330–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • First, M. B., Gibbon, M., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. W., & Benjamin, L. S. (1997). User’s guide for the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis-II personality disorders (SCID-II). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

  • Flynn, P. M., Joe, G. W., Broome, K. M., Simpson, D. D., & Brown, B. S. (2003). Recovery from opioid addiction in DATOS. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 23, 177–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galione, J., & Zimmerman, M. (2010). A comparison of depressed patient with and without borderline personality disorder: implications for interpreting studies of the validity of the bipolar spectrum. Journal of Personality Disorders, 24(6), 763–772.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibertini, M., Branderberg, N., & Retzlaff, P. (1986). The operating characteristics of the millon clinical multiaxial inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 50, 554–567.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, B. F., Stinson, F. S., Hasin, D. S., Dawson, D. A., Chou, S. P., Dufour, M. C., Compton, W., Pickering, R. P., & Kaplan, K. (2004). Prevalence and co-occurrence of substance abuse disorders and independent mood disorders and anxiety disorders: results for the national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions (NESARC). Archives of General Psychiatry, 61, 807–816.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heinz, A., Epstein, D. H., & Preston, K. L. (2007). Spiritual/religious experiences and in-treatment outcome in an inner-city program for heroin and cocaine dependence. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 39, 41–49.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horton, E. G. & Luna, N. (2016). Spirituality in the treatment of substance use disorders: Proposing the Three-legged Stool as a framework for intervention. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, in press

  • Jarusiewicz, B. (2000). Spirituality and addiction: relationship to recovery and relapse. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 18, 99–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kass, J. D., Friedman, R., Leserman, J., Zuttermeister, P. C., & Benson, H. (1991). Health outcomes and a new index of spiritual experience. Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, 30(2), 2-3-211.

  • Kovacs, E., Piko, B. F., & Fitzpatrick, K. M. (2011). Religiosity as a protective factor against substance use among Hungarian high school students. Substance Use and Misuse, 46, 1346–1357.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marsiglia, F. F., Ayers, S. L., & Hoffman, S. (2012). Religiosity and adolescent substance use in central Mexico: exploring the influence of internal and external religiosity on cigarette and alcohol use. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49, 87–97.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Millon, T. (1997). Millon clinical multiaxial inventory-III manual (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: National Computer System.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millon, T., Millon, C., Davis, R., & Grossman, S. (2009). MCMI-III manual (3rd ed.). Minneapolis: Pearson Education, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscati, A., & Mezuk, B. (2014). Losing faith and finding religion: religiosity over the life course and substance use and abuse. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 136, 127–134.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Piderman, K. M., Schneekloth, T. D., Pankratz, V. S., Stevens, S. R., & Altchuler, S. I. (2008). Spirituality during alcoholism treatment and continuous abstinence for one year. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 68, 282–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piedmont, R. L. (2004). Assessment of spirituality and religious sentiments technical manual. Baltimore: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piedmont, R. L., Hassinger, C. J., Rhorer, J., Sherman, E. F., Sherman, N. C., & Williams, J. E. G. (2007). The relations among spirituality and religiosity and Axis II functioning in two college samples. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 18, 53–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poage, E. D., Ketzenberger, K. E., & Olsen, J. (2004). Spirituality, contentment, and stress in recovering alcoholics. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 1857–1862.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Regnerus, M. D., & Burdette, A. (2006). Religious change and adolescent family dynamics. Sociology Quarterly, 47, 175–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Retzlaff, P. D. (1998). Review of the millon clinical multiaxial inventory-III. In J. C. Impara & B. S. Plake (Eds.), Thirteenth mental measurements yearbook (pp. 667–668). Lincoln: Buros Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, E. R., Krentzman, A. R., Webb, J. R., & Brower, K. J. (2011). Six-month changes in spirituality and religiousness in alcoholics predict drinking outcomes at nine months. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 72, 660–668.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, S. M., Lucas, V., & Kuras, L. (2007). Measuring the discrepancy between current and ideal spiritual and religious functioning in problem drinkers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 404–408.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seidlitz, L., Abernathy, A. D., Duberstein, P. R., Evinger, J. S., Chang, T. H., & Lewis, B. (2002). Development of the spiritual transcendence index. Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, 439–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, J., & Fischer, J. M. (2002). Spirituality and addiction recovery for rehabilitation counseling. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 33, 27–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sonneborn, C., & Bosma, M. (2012). Comorbidity and outcome in dual diagnosis patients – characteristics of 228 inpatients. Mental Health and Substance Use, 5(1), 42–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, C., & Koeske, G. F. (2005). Spiritual change in treatment of substance dependence. Social Work and Christianity, 32, 321–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teplin, D., O’Connell, T., Daiter, J., & Varenbut, M. (2004). A psychometric study of the prevalence of DSM-IV personality disorders among office-based methadone maintenance patients. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 30(3), 515–524.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yonker, J. E., Schnabelrauch, C. A., & DeHaan, L. G. (2012). The relationship between spirituality and religiosity on psychosocial outcomes in adolescents and emerging adults: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 299–314.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Florida Atlantic University, 777 W. Glades Rd., SO303, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    E. Gail Horton & Naelys Luna

  2. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches, Inc, 631 US Hwy. 1, Suite 304, N. Palm Beach, FL, 33408, USA

    Tammy Malloy

Authors
  1. E. Gail Horton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Naelys Luna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tammy Malloy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Gail Horton.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

Authors E. Gail Horton, Naelys Luna, and Tammy Malloy declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Horton, E.G., Luna, N. & Malloy, T. Exploring the Relationships between Spirituality and Personality Disorder Traits among a Sample of In-Patients in Treatment for Substance Use Disorder. Int J Ment Health Addiction 14, 459–471 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-015-9596-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-015-9596-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation