The benefits of spirituality in mental health are personal in a group therapy session one persons way of viewing spiritual wellness is going to be different from anothers therapists note that when people feel more in tune with their spirit they feel more confident and more empowered these feelings have a decided benefit for mental health recovery in this sense spiritual awakening can have a positive impact on mental illness. Studies show that a positive spiritual orientation helps people cope and makes them resilient in the face of lifes challenges those patients who think their illness or condition is a punishment. Mental health benefits of spirituality spirituality is a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves it helps a person look within and understand themselves while also figuring out the greater answer of how they fit in to the rest of the world in other words it helps people understand their interpretation of the meaning of life. After defining the term spirituality this paper examines some of the research on the relationship between spirituality and mental health focusing on depression anxiety and substance abuse while spiritual beliefs often represent powerful sources of comfort hope and meaning at times they can entangled with mental and emotional disorders making it difficult to determine whether they are a resource or a liability copyright c 2010 john wiley sons ltd