Does Jesus Help in Recovery?

Researchers from The University of Akron, the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Baylor University conducted a study on adolescents with addiction. The researchers wanted to determine how their spirituality correlates with their recovery. Data was retrieved from a longitudinal investigation from the beginning of 2007 to mid-2009 at the largest source of adolescent residential treatment in Ohio known as New Directions. The study included 195 participants where they were surveyed on background characteristics, addiction severity, and belief factors. The most commonly abused substances among the individuals included marijuana, narcotics, hallucinogens, and alcohol. They found that 1 of every 4 entered treatment as atheists. After two months, testing revealed an increase of daily spiritual experiences. Although the study does not yield why these changes occur, they believe it could be due to formal religious practices, which are not forced by New Directions. A stronger involvement with spirituality provides a higher chance of abstinence among drug and alcohol users during treatment. According to results, it also leads to service to others and reduced self-centeredness. This implies that one will have a better chance at being successful through treatment if they have or develop a religious baseline. A higher power is necessary because addicts are powerless, and therefore, cannot break the addiction by themselves. This also implies that if taken further, having a religious base could solve other problems such as adolescent delinquencies. As all real studies contain, this one has limitations. Their measures did not fully contain all variables needed to measure how all aspects of religiosity affect an adolescent who abuses substances. Also, they do not report observed relationships, but only what they can report quantitatively. It would be beneficial to include categorical data to obtain wider understanding.  Also, it is suggested to include a more diverse population of individuals so that the study properly displays its population of choice. Overall, this study helps us see the need for spiritual involvement in treatment programs.

Lee, M., Veta, P., Johnson, B., & Pagano, M. (2014). Daily Spiritual Experiences and Adolescent Treatment Response. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 32(2-3), 271-298.

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