Partial Hospital Program – CBT
Spirituality
When you see or hear the word spirituality – what words come to mind? List as many words as you can – remember
there are no wrong answers:
How do you define spirituality?
Below is a list of words that others have come up with over time.
Acceptance
Meaning
Awe
Happiness
Community
Solitude
Purpose
Church
Prayer
Beach
Values
Family
People
Serenity
Peace
Music
Mystery
Higher power
Religion
Mountains
Morality
Relationships
Attunement
Spirit
Peaceful
Art
Connection
Holy
Meditation
Experience
Forgiveness
Creation
Inner strength
Faith
Commitment
Creativity
Faith
Sacred places
Faith
Stars
Mindfulness
Connection
Inner self
Hope
Soul
Big
God
Sacred texts
Nature
Highlight or circle the words from your list that are also on this list. When you look at the list you created and the larger
list, reflect on the similarities and differences as you compare the two. Take a moment and write down the things you
notice.
What is spirituality?
Spirituality has been defined in numerous ways; there is no right answer. Definitions include:
 A belief in a power operating in the universe that is greater than oneself
ld May-16
345 Blackstone Boulevard • Providence • RI • 02906 • 401.455.6224
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Partial Hospital Program – CBT

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A sense of interconnectedness with all living creatures
An awareness of the purpose and meaning of life
The energy, creativity and magic of life – the soul
The way you find meaning, hope, comfort, and inner peace in your life
How does spirituality influence health?
Spiritual practices tend to improve coping skills and social support, foster feelings of optimism and hope, promote
healthy behavior, reduce feelings of depression and anxiety, and encourage a sense of relaxation.
Spiritual practices can assist in alleviating stressful feelings and promote healing ones; spirituality can positively
influence our health.
What is the history of spirituality and health care?
In most healing traditions and through generations of healers in the early beginnings of Western medicine, concerns of
the body and spirit were intertwined. But with the coming of the scientific revolution and the enlightenment, these
considerations were removed from the medical system. Today however, a growing number of studies reveal that
spirituality may play a bigger role in the healing process than previously thought.
Faith: A person’s most deeply held beliefs strongly influence his or her health. Some researchers believe that faith
increases the body’s resistance to stress. In a recent clinical study people with the lowest stress hormone levels were
those who used their faith and prayer to cope with stress.
Forgiveness: Forgiveness is a release of hostility and resentment from past hurts; a practice that is encouraged by many
spiritual and religious traditions. In a Stanford University study it was found that college students trained to forgive
someone who had hurt them were significantly less angry, more hopeful, and better able to deal with emotions than
students not trained to forgive.
Prayer: The act of putting oneself in the presence of or conversing with a higher power has been used as a means of
healing across all cultures throughout the ages.
What illnesses and conditions respond well to spirituality?
Programs with a strong spiritual component, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), show that spiritual disciplines may be
especially effective for drug and alcohol addiction. The regular practice of prayer and meditation is strongly associated
with recovery and abstinence from drugs. Results from several studies indicate that people with strong religious and
spiritual beliefs heal faster from surgery, are less anxious and depressed, have lower blood pressure, and cope better
with chronic illnesses.
Make another list of the activities that you do or have done in the past that give you meaning and purpose.
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345 Blackstone Boulevard • Providence • RI • 02906 • 401.455.6224
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Partial Hospital Program – CBT
When illness and addictions enter our lives, we often lose connection with our spirit. Illness takes over and the things
that we love most, enjoy doing, and once valued take a back seat or get hidden deep inside.
What can you do to nurture your spirit?
Choose two or three things that you have done in past that would reconnect you with your spirit.
Activity
What will it take for me to do
this again? (break this down
What can I do this week?
into small parts)
My Declaration of Self-Esteem
Virginia Satir (Peoplemaking)
I am me. In a world, there is no one else exactly like me. There are persons who have some parts like me, but no one
adds up exactly like me. Therefore, everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it.
I own everything about me. My body, including everything it does; my mind, including all its thoughts and ideas; my
eyes, including the images of all they behold; my feelings, whatever they may be… anger, joy, frustration, love,
disappointment, excitement; my mouth, and all the words that come out of it polite, sweet or rough, correct or
incorrect; my voice, loud or soft; and all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.
I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes.
Because I own all of me I can become intimately acquainted with me. By doing so, I can love me and be friendly with me
in all my parts. I can then make it possible for all of me to work in my best interests.
I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know. But as long as I am friendly
and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more
about me.
However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is me. This is
authentic and represents where I am in that moment in time. When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I
said and did, and how I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting. I can discard that which is unfitting,
and keep that which provided sitting, and invent something new for that which I discarded.
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345 Blackstone Boulevard • Providence • RI • 02906 • 401.455.6224
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Partial Hospital Program – CBT
I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make
sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.
I am me and I am ok.
Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Speech, 1994
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
Who am I, to be
Brilliant
Gorgeous
Talented and fabulous?
Actually,
Who are you not to be?
You are a child of God,
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us,
It’s not just in some of us,
It’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We consciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others.
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345 Blackstone Boulevard • Providence • RI • 02906 • 401.455.6224
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