Week 5 - Eunice Valencia

Eunice Valencia

ASA 189B

Week 5

I personally haven’t really, deeply thought about combining spiritual healing with medicine. But the article “You  are here’: locating ‘spirituality’ on the map of the current medical world,” talks about the rise of nurses and physicians have joined clinical pastoral education to gain spiritual practice skills. Research on providing spiritual healing care services in hospitals have also increased. Many physicians claim to be religious but don’t apply “explaining any clinical application of

scriptural verses.”

Chaplin’s spiritual care process consists of listening to what the patient feels, “mindfully aware of his/her own ‘self’, thoughts and feelings,” through facilitated mindfulness activities. Through gaining self empathy, they have the ability to heal. Chaplain’s spiritual care goes beyond religion, the individual/patients can find purpose in their pain,  it’s a “therapeutic application of spiritual concepts such as ‘self’ and transcendence; from a religious perspective, with its ability to withstand scientific scrutiny.” Chaplain’s spiritual healing focuses mainly on the patients and deeply connecting with one’s self. “It is peculiar in the sense that it

is a ‘care-process’ that is not provided by the chaplain but ‘educates’ the patient to heal him/herself using the ‘self’.”

Could there be any negative effects once the person is in touch with their feelings/emotions? Could they become too attached to their pain?