Founders message
In 2015 I read a review of a new book called The Spiritual Child by Lisa Miller, PhD. At the time we were developing our addiction Prevention/Parenting education program at Beit T’Shuvah, reaching out to Jewish day schools as our Partners in Prevention. Our model developed as a natural outgrowth of treating recovering addicts and witnessing the importance of spirituality to gain and sustain sobriety and recovery. One day I said to myself, “if spirituality is key to recovery, maybe it could be a key to preventing addiction.”
At the time, most prevention programs were really drug education… “just say no, this is your brain on drugs, etc.” Although spirituality, the concept of a relationship with a higher power (different from religion), was basic to AA recovery, it was viewed suspiciously by both educators and clinicians. It was ephemeral, not measurable or evidence-based. So when I read about a book, written by a Ph.D. called the Spiritual Child, I was excited. I reached out to her, inviting her to come to Beit T’Shuvah for a talk and book signing. My enthusiasm must have been contagious and she agreed to come.
Dr. Miller discovered research affirming that humans are biologically wired for spirituality. There is an identifiable surge at adolescence synchronized with physical maturation and passage to adulthood, a search for meaning and identity. Unfortunately, our Jewish rite of passage, bar and bat mitzvot have become empty rituals, more popularity parties than spiritual awakenings. In a study by Kenneth Kendler, a genetic epidemiologist, he concluded that for adolescents, those who identified as having a spiritual connection were 30 to 40% less likely to experience clinical depression and 40 to 80% less likely to develop substance abuse.
And now Dr. Miller has published a new book, the Awakened Brain with her own research findings, affirming Kendler’s earlier research. More surprisingly, her colleague, Dr. Suniya Luther found in her research that privileged or affluent adolescents had less spiritual identification and higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and anxiety than children of poverty. Despite their resources, sources of enrichment, education, and engaged parents, they felt more fearful and vulnerable…. Socialized in a culture that equated their worth with how fat or skinny they were or what grades they got, they had no unconditional love or sense of connection.
This is an important book and message. I highly recommend it.