Part I:
Spirituality, Addiction and Recovery
Exploring the Concept of Spirituality
Until recently, scientists have generally avoided the concept of spirituality in research and in clinical settings (Eliason, Amodia, & Cano, 2006). One explanation for this omission is that spirituality is often mistakenly conflated with religion – the latter being viewed as largely off-limits due to professional ethical considerations (Eliason et al., 2006). The rule of thumb has been that spiritual matters were best left to the realm of the clergy or mystics and kept outside of the boundaries of science.