Research about the impact that spirituality has on drug addiction and homelessness

City House supports people who are experiences addiction, homelessness, and other major life challenges to build their own spiritual muscles. City House's program evaluation has found a 90% correlation between the inner work of participants and outward improvements in their lives--such as finding and keeping housing and work. A broad cross-section of research demonstrates ways that spiritual development impacts homelessness, addiction, and other major life challenges. The following research findings are a sample from this research.

The proactive development of spiritual strength and openness tends to increase success in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.

• [In alcohol recovery programs] those who experience increases in day-to-day spiritual experiences and their sense of purpose in life are most likely to be free of heavy drinking episodes six months later. (University of Michigan Addiction Research Center)
• “Proactive and experiential” dimensions of spirituality, rather than cognitive ones, were contributing to the recovery and decrease in drinking in the first six months. (University of Michigan Addiction Research Center)
  Increased hope for a brighter future or a better life will motivate individuals into beginning the recovery process.  (Laudet, 2006)
•  Leadership roles in the helping process strengthened the spiritual and recovery process. Glickman (2006)
• Correlation evidence supports a positive relationship between religion, spirituality and recovery.  Miller (2007)
• In an inner-city treatment program, evidence showed a positive relationship between negative urinalysis testing and higher religious and spiritual experiences. Heinz (2007)

Spiritual development can give people the needed inner strength to leave homelessness.

•  Evidence suggests a relationship between expressed spirituality and readiness to make changes to leave homelessness. (Arthur, 2003)
• Spiritual perspective, self-transcendence and health status were significantly and positively associated with well-being in this study of homeless men and women. (Runquist, 2002)
• While there are many programs that work hard toward ending homelessness, John Belcher suggests that the missing element of helping people who are homeless is attending to their spirituality (180).  Belcher’s studies indicate that even when programs are operated in faith-based organizations, very little time is spent addressing the spiritual needs of the homeless (184).  When a person’s physical needs are not met, when they do not have enough food or adequate shelter, there is a trend to discount the spiritual dimension of service (183).
• Belcher has found that faith promotes hope and optimism in those who are homeless (180).  Faith enhances the ability to cope. Rather than assuming that all people that are homeless have given up hope and decided God is uncaring, studies have shown that faith and spirituality helped them escape homelessness and find hope (Belcher 183). 

Spirituality builds resilience for coping with stress of all kinds of major life challenges and transitions.

• Addressing spiritually based concerns can reduce PTSD in trauma survivors (Harris, 2011)
• Lindgren and Coursey (1995) reviewed studies on spirituality and coping and concluded that spirituality buffers stressful life events
• Spirituality has been found to be strongly correlated with positive health (Seaward, 1995) and has been shown to improve holistic well-being (Koenig, 1991).
• For a variety of disenfranchised groups, components of spirituality have been identified as helpful in coping with major life challenges (Holt, Clark, Kreuter, & Rubio, 2003; Mendelson, 2002). 

Arthur, Brian. “The Relationship between Spirituality, Religious Practices and Readiness Recovery Among Homeless Women: Findings from the Arizona Site of the Homeless Families Initiative,” presented at the 2003 Design and Evaluation of Interventions for Homeless Families Conference.

Belcher, John R. "Helping the Homeless: What About the Spirit of God?" Pastoral Psychology, January 2003: 179-188.

Glickman, L. Galanter, M Dermatis, H. & Dingle, S. (2006). Recovery and spiritual transformation among peer leaders of modified methadone anonymous group. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 38, 531 -533.

Harris, Irene. "The effectiveness of a trauma focused spiritually integrated intervention for veterans exposed to trauma." Journal of Clinical Psychology. Volume 67, Issue 4, pages 425–438, April 2011

Holt, C.L., Clark, E.M., Kreuter, M.W., Rubio, D. (2003). "Spiritual Health locus of control and cancer beliefs among urban African American women". Health Psychology 22 (3): 294–9

HG Koenig, LK George, and P. Titus, “Religion, Spirituality and Health in Medically Ill Hospitalized Older Patients,” Journal of the American Geriatrics Association 52 (2004): 554-62.

Laudet, A. Morgen, K. & White, W. (2006). The Role of social supports, spirituality, religiousness, life meaning and affiliation with 12-step fellowships in quality of life satisfaction among individuals in recovery from alcohol and drug problems. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 33-72.

Lindgren, K. N., & Coursey, R. D. (1995). Spirituality and serious mental illness: A two-part study. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 18, 93-111.

Seaward, B. L., Reflections on Human Spirituality for the Worksite. American Journal of Health Promotion, 9(3): 165-168, 1995.