ABSTRACT
Reflection on what it means to be a healthcare professional and indeed a patient, the dynamic giving and receiving between both parties and the aims of care rather than cure by the authors and others has led to recognition of the common features between people who are living with long-term benign pain and those recovering from alcoholism. This chapter is an investigation of possible parallels not only of the shared features of spiritual suffering, but also of the possibility of shared options for therapy and healing. The authors explore the concepts of powerlessness, acceptance, transition and its subsequent growth and healing with subsequent relief of spiritual pain through acceptance, a sense of powerlessness, forgiveness, making amends, development of a relationship with a ‘power greater than ourselves’, in areas of their diseases, health, relationships and human activity. The programme of recovery offered by Alcoholics Anonymous addresses the physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual and social constituents of the disease in a holistic sense.
