Spirituality has become a topic of much interest in recent times in the scientific community. This includes the convergence of advances related to the role of spirituality in self-help groups, health psychology, psychiatry, and consciousness research.
Spirituality has traditionally been considered an elusive concept that is difficult to investigate. Hence, its role in psychological well-being has been seen as largely absent.
More recently, however, spirituality has been rightfully placed in contemporary psychology. This includes metatheoretical propositions that explain it as a legitimate psychological construct, which differs from religiosity and has transcultural applicability.
While spirituality may include religion, it has been defined as an expression of the transcendent ways to fulfill human potential and as a synonym for constructs such as hope, meaning, wholeness, harmony, and transcendence (O’Reilly, 2004). Spirituality has been recognised as an important feature of the therapeutic process and a contributor to improving life satisfaction and well-being and reducing antisocial behavior, substance abuse, and suicide rates (Brawer et al., 2002).
For example, recent contributions in schema therapy, an increasingly popular model embraced by clinicians for working with people with multiple disorders, explain spirituality as “a natural wisdom or spirituality that is not necessarily channeled through institutional religion, and which provides a sense of strength and direction in the face of loss and adversity” (Edwards, 2022, p. 5).
Similarly, recent advances in health psychology have developed measures to assess spirituality (Braghetta et al., 2021). A new framework in healthcare for a better understanding of spirituality is proposed as an important aspect of healthcare research (de Brito Sena et al., 2021).
A body of research evidence indicates that spirituality plays an important role in treating medical and psychological conditions (Stanard et al., 2000) and that any form of psychotherapy exploring the depth of the human psyche will eventually reach the spiritual domain (Elkins, 2005). Meta-analytic results of 31 studies investigating spiritually oriented psychotherapies provide empirical evidence of their benefits to individuals experiencing various psychological conditions such as anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and stress (Smith et al., 2007).
Contemporary contributions in consciousness report the positive and causal associations between spiritual well-being and mental health (Saad et al., 2022), as well as supporting evidence for using spiritual experiences to treat conditions such as addiction, depression, and anxiety to positively transform lives (Corneille & Luke, 2021).
Recent contributions to psychiatry assert that “state-of-the-art clinical psychiatry seeks to provide successful treatment of persons with mental illness in a comprehensive approach integrating … social, and spiritual aspects” (Huber & Schneeberger, 2020, p. 1).
Finally, recent advances derived from rigorous scientific research examining the efficacy of 12-step programs (12SP), initially spawned from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the treatment of addiction, have been found to be effective stand-alone interventions for substance use disorder (SUD), as well as effective adjunct professional clinical practices (Kelly et al., 2020). Despite earlier doubts and criticisms from academia, today, “the evidence for the efficacy of 12-step interventions is compelling” (Greene, 2021, p. 19). Spirituality is a central construct, therapeutic factor, and mechanism of change inherent in 12SP (Kelly et al., 2011).
Given the progress and convergences outlined thus far, it’s not at all surprising that neuroscience and the clinical benefits of spiritual practices have become major drivers of recent scientific inquiry.
Contemporary consciousness research provides emerging proof-of-concept evidence of spirituality by asserting that: (1) the mind is separate from the brain; (2) spirit and soul are comparable to energy and information that exist in the vacuum of space; (3) individuals can receive intuitive information that is accurate and useful in their individual and collective lives; and (4) physical and psychological health can be fostered by active loving spiritual processes.
