Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Spirituality as a Part of Recovery in Narcotic Anonymous



Narcotic’s Anonymous incorporates a spiritual factor for its attendees. A survey was conducted among 527 Narcotics Anonymous attendants. This survey was given in order to understand how vital the role of spirituality is in the road to recovery. Only three states California, Pennsylvania, and Florida, were chosen for the survey to take place in and out of these states ten meetings took the survey. Participants in the survey were instructed to not participate in the survey more than once. The average of the study was 6.1 years that these recovering addicts had not used narcotics with the help of their spirituality and Narcotic Anonymous Twelve-Step Recovery meetings. Concluding that it takes both a spiritual relationship of sorts and Narcotics Anonymous meetings attendance.
            Through the insight gained from this survey promoting spirituality in recovery is key. Having a “Spiritual Awakening” is of the utmost importance to the narcotic addicts whom are trying to recover. A narcotic addict is encouraged to find their spirituality by finding a “Higher Power”; from which they can get their source of strength to overcome addiction. This study implies that spirituality is as important and works together with the Narcotic Anonymous programs.
            A limitation of the study is that the survey was honor based. This meaning that the individual was responsible for providing accurate information on items such as: how long they had remained abstinent of the narcotic use. Another limitation was only the individuals who regularly attended the meetings had the opportunity to take the survey. The ratio of regular attendants to occasional attendants taking the survey was not balanced which may have resulted in variations in the results.

Galanter, M., Dermatis, H., Post, S., & Sampson, C. (2013). Spirituality-Based Recovery
     From Drug Addiction in the Twelve-Step Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous. Journal     of Addiction Medicine, 7(3), 189–195-189–195.

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