Spirituality, Intoxication and Addiction: Six Forms of Relationship

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Spirituality, Intoxication and Addiction: Six Forms of Relationship September 2013, Vol. 48, No. 12 , Pages 1109-1113 (doi:10.3109/10826084.2013.803879) Robin Room Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia Centre for Social Research on Alcohol & Drugs, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Address correspondence to Robin Room, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre, 54–62 Gertrude St., Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia. E-mail: robinr@turningpoint.org.au

The paper considers six connections between spirituality and intoxication or addiction. They are: intoxication as a means of communication with a spiritual world; intoxication as destroying spirituality; shared use and intoxication as creating and validating community; spirituality and religion as a means of collective sobering-up; spirituality in individual sobering up; and abstinence as a spiritual practice, a witness, or a badge of membership in a spiritual community. Intoxication can either enhance or impede spirituality, both at individual and collective levels. Spirituality is often important in sobering up, both individually and collectively, and abstinence is a part of spiritual or religious practice in some traditions. But a full account must acknowledge the diversity in the interactions of spirituality and intoxication or addiction.

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