I'm spiritual but not religious : Implications for research and practice

There is an assumption, amongst some mental health service users, clinicians,
researchers and others, that religiousness and spirituality are the same construct. A
consideration of the history of these concepts shows that, over time, each has become
separated from the other. Both require careful definition. The definitions of
spirituality are heterogeneous and, with important implications for research and
practice, some encompass mood states. The failure to separate spirituality and
religiousness, and the confounding of spirituality with mood states in some research
in psychiatry, makes interpretation of the findings difficult. Greater clarity and
precision will be required in future research including, if possible, attempts to provide
distinctive operational definitions of spirituality and religiousness.