Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the spiritual functioning and well-being of individuals and how this relates to mental health and recovery from alcoholism within the conceptual framework of Alcoholics Anonymous. We raise the question of whether the spiritually oriented focus of AA is a critical factor in achieving recovery. We suggest that examining the findings from a large body of research on religion and mental health may provide further insight into this question. Specifically, we assert that the mechanisms through which the spiritual focus of AA may influence recovery from alcoholism may be similar to the mechanisms through which spirituality may influence mental health. These potential explanatory mechanisms include the provision of a community, a narrative framework for meaning-making, a means of coping through submission and redemption, and prescribed lifestyle behaviors.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Engel, G. I. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for bio-medicine. Science, 196(4286), 129–136.
Sulmasy, D. (2002). A biopsychosocial-spiritual model for the care of patients at the end of life. Gerontologist, 42, 24–33
Post, S.G., Puchalski, C. M., & Larson, D. B. (2002). Physicians and patient spirituality: professional boundaries, competency, and ethics. Annuals of Internal Medicine, 132, 578–583.
Puchalski, C. (2006). A time for listening and caring: Spirituality and the care of the chronically ill and dying. New York: Oxford University Press.
Koenig, H. G. (2005). Faith and mental health: Religious resources for healing. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.
CASA: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (2001, November). So help me God: Substance abuse, religion and spirituality. Funded by The Bodman Foundation and John Templeton Foundation.
George, L. K., Larson, D. B., Koenig, H. G., & McCullough, M. E. (2000). Spirituality and health: What we know, what we need to know. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 102–116.
Gallup, G. (2005). Religion in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Religion Research Center.
Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M., & Larson, D. (2001). Handbook of Religion and Health. New York: Oxford University Press.
Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., & Cowell, B. (1997). Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzing the fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36, 549–564.
Propst, L. R., Ostrom, R., Watkins, P., Dean, T., & Mashburn, D. (1992). Comparative efficacy of religious and nonreligious cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of clinical depression in religious individuals. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 94–103.
Strawbridge, W. J., 1ema, S. J., Cohen, R. D., Roberts, R. E., & Kaplan, G. A. (1998). Religiosity buffers effects of some stressors on depression but exacerbates others. Journal of Gerontology, 53, S118–S126.
Sorenson, A. M., Grindstaff, C. F., & Turner, R. J. (1995). Religious involvement among unmarried adolescent mothers: A source of emotional support? Sociology of Religion, 56, 71–81.
Branco, K. (2000). Religiosity and depression among nursing home residents: results of a survey of ten states. Journal of Religious Gerontology, 12(1), 43–61.
Bramm, A. W., Sonnenberg, C. M., Beekman, A. T., Deeg, D., & van Tilburg, W. (2000). Religious denomination as a symptom-formation factor of depression in older Dutch citizens. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15(5), 458–466.
Pearce, M. J., Little, T. D., & Perez, J. E. (2003). Religiousness and depressive symptoms among adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32(2), 267–276.
Kessler, R. C., Crum, R. M., Warner, L. A., Nelson, C. B., Schulenberg, J., & Anthony, J. C. (1997). Lifetime co-occurrence of DSM-III-R alcohol abuse and dependence with other psychiatric disorders in the national comorbidity survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 13–21.
Musick, M., Blazer, D., & Hays, J. C. (2000). Religious activity, alcohol use, and depression in a sample of elderly Baptists. Research on Aging, 22, 91–116.
Schuster, M. A., Stein, B. D., Jaycox, L. H., Collins, R. L., Marshall, G. N., Elliott, M. N., et al. (2001). A national survey of stress reactions after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New England Journal of Medicine, 345, 1507–1512.
Rokeach, M. (1960). The open and closed mind. Oxford, England: Basic Books.
Koenig, H. G. (2001). Religion in medicine III: Developing a theoretical model. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 31(2), 199–216.
Greening, L., & Stoppelbein, L. (2002). Religiosity, attributional style, and social support as psychosocial buffers for African American and white adolescents’ perceived risk for suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 32, 404–417.
Cook, J. M., Pearson, J. L., Thompson, R., Black, B. S., & Rabins, P. V. (2002). Suicidality in older African Americans: Findings from the EPOCH study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 10(4), 437–446.
McClain, C. S., Rosenfeld, B., & Breitbart, W. (2003). Effect of spiritual well-being on end-of-life despair in terminally ill cancer patients. Lancet, 361(9369), 1603–1607.
Watson, P. J., Morris, R. J., & Hood, R. W. (1989). Sin and self-functioning, part 4: Depression, assertiveness, and religious commitments. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 17, 44–58.
Kahoe, R. D. (1974). Personality and achievement correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 812–818.
Bergin, A. E., Stinchfield, R. D., Gaskin, T. A., Masters, K. S., & Sullivan, C. E. (1988). Religious life-styles and mental health: An exploratory study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 35(1), 91–98.
Iecovich, E. (2001). Religiousness and subjective well-being among Jewish female residents of old age homes in Israel. Journal of Religious Gerontology, 13(1), 31–46.
Murphy, P. L., Albert, S. M., Weber, C. M., Del Bene, M. L., & Rowland, L. P. (2000). Impact of spirituality and religiousness on outcomes in patients with ALS. Neurology, 55, 1581–1584.
Ellison, C. G., Boardman, J. D., Williams, D. R., & Jackson, J. S. (2001). Religious involvement, stress, and mental health: Findings from the 1995 Detroit Area Study. Social Forces, 80, 215–249.
Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping: theory, research, practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Pargament, K. I., Smith, B. W., Koenig, H G, & Perez., L. (1998). Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life stressors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37, 710–739.
Pargament, K., Koenig, H. K., Tarakeshwar, N. & Hann, J. (2003). Religious coping methods as predictors of psychological, physical, and spiritual outcomes among medically ill elderly patients: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Health Psychology,9(6), 713–730.
Lehrer, E. L., & Chiswick, C. U. (1993). Religion as a determinant of marital stability. Demography, 30, 385–403.
George, L. K., Ellison, C. G., & Larson, D. B. (2002). Explaining the relationships between religious involvement and health. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), 190–200.
George, L., Blazer, D. G., Hughes, D. C., & Fowler, N. (1989). Social support and the outcome of major depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 478–485.
Ellison, C. G., & George, L. K. (1994). Religious involvement, social ties, and social support in a southeastern community. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33, 46–61.
Ortega, S. T., Crutchfield, R. D., & Rushing, W. A. (1983). Race differences in elderly personal well-being. Research on Aging, 5, 101–118.
Ellison, C. G., Musick, M., Levin, J., Taylor, R., & Chatters, L. (1997, August). The effects of religious attendance, guidance, and support on psychological distress: Longitudinal findings from the National Survey of Black Americans. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, San Diego, CA.
Musick, M. A., Koenig, H. K., Hays, J. C.., & Cohen, H. J. (1998). Religious activity and depression among community-dwelling elderly persons with cancer: the moderating effect of race. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 53B, S218–S227.
Alcoholics Anonymous. (2001). Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism (4th rev. ed.). New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Vanier, J. (1989). Community and growth. New York: Paulist Press.
Kurtz, E. (1975). Not-God: A history of Alcoholics Anonymous. Center City, MI: Hazelden Educational Services.
MacIntyre, A. (2002). Dependent rational animals. Chicago: Open Court.
Ryan, R. M., Rigby, S., & King, K. (1993). Two types of religious internalization and their relations to religious orientations and mental health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 586–596.
Sethi, S., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1993). Optimism and fundamentalism. Psychologial Science, 4, 256–259.
Krause, N. (2003). Religious meaning and subjective well-being in late life. Journal of Gerontology, 58(3), S160–S170.
Ellison, C. G. (1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32(1), 80–99.
McIntosh, D. N., Cohen Silver, R., & Wortman, C. B. (1993). Religion's role in adjustment to a negative life event: coping with the loss of a child. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 812–821.
Pearce, M. J., Singer, J., & Prigerson, H. G. (2006). Religious coping among caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients: Main effects and psychosocial mediators. Journal of Health Psychology, 11(5), 743–759.
Hauerwas, S. (1981). Community of character. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Freud, S. (1927). Future of an illusion. In J. Strachey (Trans. and Ed.), Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth Press. (published in 1962).
Ellis, A. (1980). Psychotherapy and atheistic values: a response to A. E. Bergin’s “Psychotherapy and human values.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 635–639.
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. M. (2000). The many methods of religious coping: development and initial validation of the RCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(4), 519–543.
Wong-McDonald, A. & Gorsuch, R. L. (2000). Surrender to God: An additional coping style? Journal of Psychology and Theology, 28(2), 149–161.
Carson, J. W., Keefe, F. J., Lynch, T. R., Carson, K. M., Goli, V., Fras, A., & Thorp, S. R. (2005). Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23(3), 287–304.
Alcoholics Anonymous. (1952). Twelve steps and twelve traditions. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Alcoholics Anonymous. (1967). As bill sees it. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Lai, L. C., Johnson, R. C., Bowers, J. K., Darvill, T. J., et al. (1990). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity as related to conscience, adjustment, and altruism. Personality and Individual Differences, 11(4), 397–400.
Brown, S. L., Nesse, R. M., Vinokur, A. D., & Smith, D. M. (2003). Providing social support may be more beneficial than receiving it: Results from a prospective study of mortality. Psychological Science, 14, 320–327.
Oman, D., Thoresen, C. E., & McMahon, K. (1999). Volunteerism and Mortality among the Community-dwelling Elderly. Journal of Health Psychology, 4(3), 301–316.
Ironson, G., Solomon, G. F., Balbin, E. G., O’Cleirigh, C., George, A., Kumar, M., Larson, D., & Woods, T. E. (2002). The ironson–woods spirituality/religiousness index is associated with long survival, health behaviors, less distress, and low cortisol in people with HIV/AIDS. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24, 34–48.
Brown, W. M., Consedine, N. S., & Magai, C. (2005). Altruism relates to health in an ethnically diverse sample of older adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 60, P143–P152.
Steffen, P. R., & Masters, K. S. (2005). Does compassion mediate the intrinsic religion–health relationship? Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 30(3), 217–224.
Berry, J., & Worthington, E. L. (2001). Forgiveness, relationship quality, stress while imagining relationship events, and physical and mental health. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 447–455.
Gorsuch, R. L., & Hao, J. Y. (1993). Forgiveness: an exploratory factor analysis and its relationship to religious variables. Review of Religious Research, 34, 333–347.
McCullough, M. (2001). Forgiveness: Who does it and how do they do it? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(6), 194–197.
Baskin, T. W., & Enright, R. D. (2004). intervention studies on forgiveness: a meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling and Development, 82(80), 79–90.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pearce, M.J., Rivinoja, C.M., Koenig, H.G. (2008). Spirituality and Health: Empirically Based Reflections on Recovery. In: Kaskutas, L., Galanter, M. (eds) Recent Developments in Alcoholism. Recent Developments in Alcoholism, vol 18. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77725-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77725-2_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77724-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-77725-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)