Abstract
Spirituality has long been associated with recovery from the socially constructed "addictive disease." Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and its analogs have enjoyed widespread acceptance as a spiritual approach for achieving recovery. AA or its derivatives are the predominant approaches in treatment programs even though a wide array of evidence-based approaches are now promoted by governmental sources in the United States. This philosophical analysis contrasts the state of science about addictive disorders with the reliance on a spiritual approach that is heavily grounded in Christian theology. We present four problems that need consideration before accepting the applicability of 12-step spiritual practices as the backbone of addiction treatment or recovery.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1233-1245 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Substance Use and Misuse |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Project match: A fairly large experiment funded by the National Institute on Drug abuse and the National In-stitute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the United States to determine whether matching patients to spe-cific treatments based on patient characteristics im-proved treatment outcome. Results indicated that treat-ment matching did not seem to have significant effect on outcome.
Keywords
- Addiction
- Recovery
- Spirituality
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Health(social science)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health
