title: Spirituality and the health professional.
abstract: The inclusion of spirituality in addictions recovery began with the 12-steps program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Cofounded by Bill Wilson, the 12-steps' spiritual orientation is based on Wilson's own recovery from alcoholism that was associated with a spiritual experience. His correspondence with Carl Jung, who verified the importance of Wilson's experience, empowered Wilson to make spirituality central to the 12 steps. Spirituality remains a source of misunderstanding between the scientific, empirically informed mental health community, and the 12-step recovery movement. This article offers an outline of spiritual development, based on neuroscience, which the professional can utilize in the spiritual aspect of a patient's recovery.
authors.affiliation: New York Psychosynthesis Institute , Huntington, New York , USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schaub
mesh_terms: D057229:Alcoholics / Q000523:psychology*; D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D029181:Spirituality