risk category that threatens physical and mental health.  Drugs were not the answer to the idealism of youth.  The abuse of alcohol did not make a person more interesting or attractive.  Rather, the abuse of controlled substances was a betrayal of the human spirit and became a roadblock to any successful pursuit of meaningful existence.  I realized, when I was a little older, that this lifestyle was a dead end and would only lead to my demise.  I needed to change.

Religion, or what some call “spirituality” today, and Christianity in particular was the answer to my needed change.  Spirituality is not a crutch.  Rather, it is a source of empowerment that fueled my idealism, which desired a better, more just world.  Spirituality provided me the hope that change was a very real possibility both for me and the world in which I lived. 

Change.  That is the miracle of spirituality and faith.  I remember the first time I read I Corinthians 5:17: “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (NRSV)  What a wonderful thing, especially for those who have made poor choices, choices that have caused so much suffering and pain.  It didn’t need to be that way.  The promise of spirituality is that we can change, our world can change and become a new place where we have opportunity to right our wrongs and begin to make better choices that bring promised redemption to our lives. It is at the point of change, of becoming a new person that spirituality and the mental health sciences intersect. It is the miracle of redemption in which forgiveness becomes a reality and ruptured relationships are overcome, where grace replaces revenge and the intimacy of loving relationships

replacesthe vindictiveness of hatred; it is here that spirituality and the mental health converge.  Most of the people I see in my practice want change.  They want to change harmful behaviors that bring difficulty into their lives.  They want to change relationships that once promised love but now only bring pain and frustration.  They want to recreate their family structures in an effort to overcome the alienation that now exists between them and their children.  They want to face the day with optimism rather that hopelessness and depression.  They want to hear that there is hope for change.

Spirituality can be the catalyst for this change, but all too often it is the roadblock to change.  Christianity can help in the construction of new worlds, but unfortunately many Christian churches and the “believers” who comprise them are obstacles to significant change and therefore work against rather than bolstering the hope of those who so desperately want to change.  Religion has two faces.  One of its faces is the face of promise and empowerment that births forgiveness, new life and hope into the one who learns to walk a life of faith.  But its other face is much more demonic.  It is the face of conformity and the only change it promises is coercion from a fearful message that threatens the flames of hell to those who do not conform.  Here change means accepting dogmatic statements of belief whether or not such acceptance truly evokes change brought by gracious redemption.  The first face, the gracious face, is what people seek and when religion or spirituality interfaces with the mental health sciences in this way, the result is nothing less than miraculous.  However, the other face of religion, the demonic face, is spiritual abuse and if a person is to be healthy spiritually and mentally, then the one who is spiritually abused must be

liberated from religion before they can embrace the spirituality of change.

In my practice, I have examined the mentally healthy aspects of spirituality, which I embrace as a catalyst for bringing about the change clients need to live healthy lives.  However, I am also aware that many people suffer from spiritual abuse, and when I work with such a person, I am careful to help them reframe their spirituality in a healthier fashion that they can be liberated from the demonic face of totalizing expressions of religious dogmas of conformity.  In this section, I define the healthy aspects of religion and how it can be a catalyst for mental health.  I also look at spiritual abuse and how the mental health sciences can help liberate us to a more meaningful spirituality and faith.

Before turning to these topics, however, I feel I need to clarify something.  While I am studied in world religions and have taught widely on various religions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and aboriginal religions, I find myself returning again and again to Christianity as my religion of choice.  This is not to say that I condemn other religions or believe they have nothing to offer to those who practice them.  However, for me Christianity especially as defined by a more critical examination of Jesus and the prophets upon whom he relied so greatly, continues to inspire me and fill my life with the hope for meaningful and redemptive change.  It is for this reason that the following draws upon the insights brought by Christian faith and practice, not as a slight to other religions, but as a confession to the hope and promise with which it has graced my life.

Dr. Harold W. Anderson