The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving

Dr. Lisa Miller

May 2015 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

In The Spiritual Child, psychologist Lisa Miller presents the next big idea in psychology: the science and the power of spirituality. She explains the clear, scientific link between spirituality and health and shows that children who have a positive, active relationship to spirituality:

* are 40% less likely to use and abuse substances
* are 60% less likely to be depressed as teenagers
* are 80% less likely to have dangerous or unprotected sex
* have significantly more positive markers for thriving including an increased sense of meaning and purpose, and high levels of academic success.

Combining cutting-edge research with broad anecdotal evidence from her work as a clinical psychologist to illustrate just how invaluable spirituality is to a child's mental and physical health, Miller translates these findings into practical advice for parents, giving them concrete ways to develop and encourage their children's—as well as their own—well-being. In this provocative, conversation-starting book, Dr. Miller presents us with a pioneering new way to think about parenting our modern youth.

Ratings and reviews

The first 30 pages of this book through Google Play were intriguing and I would like to write a review if the Google Books software will allow me to continue reading, since I paid $9.99 to do so. Apparently there are 350 more pages to be read. What's going on with Google Play, Google Books? Miller's contention that the scientific data strongly suggest that the natural spirituality developed in children and adolescents leads to young people and adults who are able to cope more effectively with the vicissitudes of modern life, is very hopeful. My personal experience as a child (as best I can recall) and as a parent who has had a sense of spirituality throughout life in and out of religion suggests to me that these words from Miller are quite profound: "What if this parenting journey is actually the ultimate spiritual journey? The equivalent to the deep awakening of the isolated monk, the pilgrimage to Mecca or Jerusalem, or the climb up Mount Everest?" Elsewhere I have written that to me the most meaningful metaphor for insight into the Almighty and the creation including human creatures are those using the parent and child relationship. I would like to say that Lisa Miller's book is a seminal work in the field, but so far Google Books will not allow me to finish reading the book I purchased.

About the author

LISA MILLER, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Education, and Director of the Clinical Psychology Program at Columbia University, Teachers College. She is also Director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute. Dr. Miller's research has been published in journals including JAMA-Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. She has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and Weekend Today as an expert psychologist. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and three children.