Unlike traditional Eastern medicines, Western medicine has been oriented towards a reductionist approach almost exclusively focused on the mechanisms that trigger the disease in an attempt to inhibit its effects. If, on the one hand, this approach has made enormous progress possible, on the other it has restricted the space reserved for the personal doctor-patient relationship and the role of their subjective experience on the course of the disease and the outcome of treatment. Thus, the patient’s need to analyze his/her own inner experience in search of purpose and meaning, and to keep a window open on the transcendent during the treatment process has taken a back seat. The need to recover this spiritual dimension has, however, been widely recognized in the last 30 years and the interventions at the institutional level necessary to promote its integration into the treatment path have been identified. Real integration, however, cannot take place without accompanying the institutional intervention with that at personal level. It will be aimed at providing the patient with the tools to accept the discomfort of the disease and the doctor to continue dispensing his care with loving kindness avoiding burnout. In this direction, the protocols of Mindfulness have found application, a contemplative practice within everyone’s reach, based on the teachings already present in the Buddhist canons of the origins dedicated to remedies to deal with suffering, illness and the fear of death. This is how a millennial tradition is contributing to the search for a new dimension of the relationship between Medicine and Spirituality.
Spirituality in Medicine: A New Dimension in the Light of a Millennial Tradition
Bruno Neri
Primo
2023-01-01
Abstract
Unlike traditional Eastern medicines, Western medicine has been oriented towards a reductionist approach almost exclusively focused on the mechanisms that trigger the disease in an attempt to inhibit its effects. If, on the one hand, this approach has made enormous progress possible, on the other it has restricted the space reserved for the personal doctor-patient relationship and the role of their subjective experience on the course of the disease and the outcome of treatment. Thus, the patient’s need to analyze his/her own inner experience in search of purpose and meaning, and to keep a window open on the transcendent during the treatment process has taken a back seat. The need to recover this spiritual dimension has, however, been widely recognized in the last 30 years and the interventions at the institutional level necessary to promote its integration into the treatment path have been identified. Real integration, however, cannot take place without accompanying the institutional intervention with that at personal level. It will be aimed at providing the patient with the tools to accept the discomfort of the disease and the doctor to continue dispensing his care with loving kindness avoiding burnout. In this direction, the protocols of Mindfulness have found application, a contemplative practice within everyone’s reach, based on the teachings already present in the Buddhist canons of the origins dedicated to remedies to deal with suffering, illness and the fear of death. This is how a millennial tradition is contributing to the search for a new dimension of the relationship between Medicine and Spirituality.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
