Abstract

Spirituality and addiction recovery have long been paired in the treatment of substance abuse, mainly since the creation of Minnesota’s Hazelden rehab center approach - which is based on AA’s 12 step program - in the 1940s. The topic has been widely studied and documented, within many fields and models such as social work, health care, neuropsychology, transpersonal and positive psychology. The literature generally reports spirituality as a beneficial and protective factor in addiction recovery. However, it also reveals that not all religious /spiritual beliefs and practices have positive correlations with mental health and addiction recovery. The present study aimed to broaden the idea of spirituality in addiction recovery by proposing ways to explore this concept through art therapy interventions. The methodology used was intervention-based research, more precisely Fraser and Gallinsky’s (2010) model. In accordance with transpersonal theory, the present research views spirituality as a normal human psychological need or dimension that is interrelated with and affects all other dimensions of humanity. Through an in-depth review of the literature, 45 spiritual elements correlating with addiction recovery and mental health were found. From these, 10 themes were developed to inform the design of an intervention program. The program presents each theme, accompanied by related art therapy approaches and interventions. The findings of this study suggest that spirituality is a promotive and protective factor in addiction recovery and that art therapy is effective in the exploration and experience of spirituality without the risk factors linked to certain spiritual practices or beliefs. However, this needs to be demonstrated by further research, through pilot testing of the program with real participants.