Survey: Spiritual Teens, Adults Less Likely to Abuse Alcohol And Drugs

Knight Ridder/Tribune - November 17, 2001

Teens and adults who consider religion or personal spirituality important are far less likely to abuse alcohol and drugs than non-believers, according to a new Columbia University study that analyzed three national surveys.

Faith also plays a role in professional treatment programs, with those who are successfully recovering from substance abuse often showing higher levels of faith and spirituality than those who relapse, the study concludes.

Touted this week as the first analysis of its kind, the report by researchers from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia adds support for the growing number of studies that suggest faith or spirituality can help prevent or treat illness when brought into medical care.

But the report also found that, despite this knowledge, most clergy and health care professionals fail to use spirituality and religion as another healing tool for addiction.

"There are lots of factors that influence whether an individual will use alcohol or drugs," said Susan E. Foster, vice president and director of policy research and analysis at the center. "Our point is that these are factors that are very important in prevention and recovery and that they are often overlooked."

According to the study:

- Adults who don't consider religious beliefs important are almost four times more likely to use an illicit drug other than marijuana, and more than 1¹/₂ times likelier to drink or smoke.

- Teens in the same category are almost three times more likely to smoke or use alcohol, but seven times more likely to use illicit drugs than teens who placed a strong emphasis on religion.

But a separate survey of clergy by Columbia researchers showed that only 12.5 percent of priests, ministers and rabbis had any training on how to address the issue with members of their congregations.

In addition, less than half of health care professionals said that they would advise their patients to seek help from their religious leaders.

"We need to start taking advantage of this treatment and of the power that could be employed to help in prevention," Foster said.

But despite the findings, not everyone is sold on the theory.

"To say definitely that it's good for people to practice religion is jumping the gun," said Stephen Saunders, an associate professor in the psychology department at Marquette University and a researcher with the Center for Addictions and Behavioral Health Research.

"At this point, we cannot conclude that religion or spirituality actually causes these things to happen, although they are correct when they say there is an association.

"It might be," he said, "if people go once a week and meet with other people who are friendly to them, who are less likely to drink and smoke, maybe it's that experience and (not) religion."

---

Charles Richardson, 37, is a believer in the power of faith.

Two years ago, he was fighting a 20-year addiction to crack and alcohol. His poor attendance had just gotten him fired from his job as a machinist. He wasn't much of a husband to his wife or a father to his children.

That's when he turned to Faith Works Milwaukee Inc., a men's residential drug and alcohol treatment program. One of few charitable choice treatment programs in the country, Faith Works competes for federal dollars and gets additional support from private foundations, churches and individuals, said Jeffrey Figgatt, executive director.

"It allowed me the time that I needed," Richardson said of his nine-month stay in the program. "I had been struggling in my spiritual war, and it allowed me some time to strengthen my relationship with God. (Faith) was very important for me because it gave me something to believe in outside of what I had been putting my faith in, which was running from my problems with drugs and alcohol."

Proselytizing was not allowed. But there was a supportive group of committed Christians, time to pray, Bibles with addiction-related passages highlighted, and opportunities to participate voluntarily in prayer groups and fellowship groups no matter what a person's faith tradition.

Richardson now works as a counselor for Faith Works and attends a west side church each Sunday.

"The Columbia study is just the latest in a series of studies that have shown that religious faith can be an important positive in people's overall mental health," Figgatt said. "I do think it's an area that requires more study and, in fact, would love for Faith Works to be a part of a local study."

The study also rang true this week with students at Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha.

Brett Ryback, a Catholic Memorial High School senior, said children are more apt to use moral standards they learned from their religious families to stay away from alcohol and other drugs.

"I think because they are raised with moral standards, they are more likely to turn to those standards," when faced with deciding whether to take or abuse drugs, he said.

Junior Kate Ninneman agreed. "I know personally, in my life, my faith is a source of strength," she said.

---

In the Milwaukee area, many health care and substance abuse professionals already recognize the importance of meeting patients' spiritual needs.

Anthony Meyer, medical director of Milwaukee Psychiatric Hospital in Wauwatosa, said that the hospital recently hired a clergyman to come in and meet with patients one day a week.

This was done after an internal survey found that most of their patients did not feel that their spiritual needs were being met.

"This is something that we've known - that people who have some spiritual feelings do seem to do better," he said. "But time will tell how well it works."

The Rev. Joseph Ellwanger, pastor of Cross Lutheran Church and chairman of the AODA Committee of Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope, agreed.

"Genuine, authentic spirituality can give people strength and power," Ellwanger said. "That is not to say that a person without much spirituality cannot win the battle over addiction."

That rang true for Duncan Shrout, director of governmental affairs for IMPACT, a treatment and prevention organization that assesses 10,000 to 15,000 people in Milwaukee County each year and refers them to treatment programs for drug or alcohol abuse. Every such program in the Milwaukee area has some (degree) of spirituality associated with it, he said.

"If you talk to people who have been on any of these programs, those who have developed abstinence and some stability in their lives would tell you in private conversation that faith has played a large part in their success," Shrout said.

"They have in a sense been uplifted; they've been transformed."

Thomas Shiltz, a private-practice psychotherapist and training specialist at Rogers Memorial Hospital, said that most people who abuse substances see the drugs or alcohol as a source of power. They can discover another source of power through spirituality.

"It's been recognized for quite a long time, especially in the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous," he said. "But it's just sometimes difficult to incorporate into treatment" because it's such an individual thing.

"What is helpful is not trying to provide any particular belief, but having the patient realize that there is a power greater than self," he said.

---

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel correspondent Dave Sheeley contributed to this report from Waukesha, Wis.)

---