Recognizing Suffering

Cassell, Eric J.

doi:10.2307/3563319

Cited by 127 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Ill persons undergo transformations in which they are unable to be the persons they once were. This threat to wholeness generates suffering 35 and involves the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of personhood described in this study. 36 Suffering is an inherently unpleasant experience refl ecting perceptions of helplessness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Meaning Of Healing: Transcending Suffering

Egnew¹

2005

The Annals of Family Medicine

233

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PURPOSE Medicine is traditionally considered a healing profession, but it has neither an operational defi nition of healing nor an explanation of its mechanisms beyond the physiological processes related to curing. The objective of this study was to determine a defi nition of healing that operationalizes its mechanisms and thereby identifi es those repeatable actions that reliably assist physicians to promote holistic healing. METHODSThis study was a qualitative inquiry consisting of in-depth, openended, semistructured interviews with Drs. Eric J. Cassell, Carl A. Hammerschlag, Thomas S. Inui, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Cicely Saunders, Bernard S. Siegel, and G. Gayle Stephens. Their perceptions regarding the defi nition and mechanisms of healing were subjected to grounded theory content analysis. RESULTSHealing was associated with themes of wholeness, narrative, and spirituality. Healing is an intensely personal, subjective experience involving a reconciliation of the meaning an individual ascribes to distressing events with his or her perception of wholeness as a person.CONCLUSIONS Healing may be operationally defi ned as the personal experience of the transcendence of suffering. Physicians can enhance their abilities as healers by recognizing, diagnosing, minimizing, and relieving suffering, as well as helping patients transcend suffering.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Meaning Of Healing: Transcending Suffering

Egnew¹

2005

The Annals of Family Medicine

233

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Doing so involves (1) direct questioning, (2) appreciating the sounds and sights of suffering, (3) sensing the loss of connection with patients who have withdrawn into their suffering, and (4) empathic identifi cation. 38 The diagnosis of suffering is uniquely dependent upon the clinician's subjective experience, making physicianhealers "strange instruments." 51 To manage the shared vulnerability of the close interpersonal relationships of healing, physician-healers must be mindful so they can balance their personal responses to patients with their professional presentation.…”

Section: Back To the Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…1(p54) Yet, sharing vulnerability opens the possibility of a healing connection around the commonality of human woundedness. 37 The compassion that fosters a therapeutic alliance and enhances knowledge of another's suffering is aided by empathy, 38 which requires a willingness to suffer some of the patient's pain in the sharing of suffering that is vital to healing. 33,37,39,40 The empathic understanding that ensues from a strong therapeutic alliance allows physician-healers to actively and intentionally guide patients in rewriting their life narratives to affi rm normalcy, establish acceptance, discover meaning, make new connections to the world, transcend suffering, and experience healing.…”

Section: Healing Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suffering, Meaning, and Healing: Challenges of Contemporary Medicine

Egnew¹

2009

The Annals of Family Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This essay explores the thesis that changes in contemporary society have transformed the work of doctoring and challenge doctors to be physician-healers. Medical advances in the prevention and management of acute disease have wrought a growing population of chronically ill patients whose care obliges physicians to become holistic healers. Holistic healing involves the transcendence of suffering. Suffering arises from perceptions of a threat to the integrity of personhood, relates to the meaning patients ascribe to their illness experience, and is conveyed as an intensely personal narrative. Physician-healers use the power of the doctor-patient relationship to help patients discover or create new illness narratives with fresh meanings that reconnect them to the world and to others and thereby transcend suffering and experience healing. Physician-healers equipped with the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to assist patients to transcend suffering are indispensable if contemporary medicine is to maintain its tradition as a healing profession. In the process, physicians may discover meaningful connections with patients that bring new and refreshing perspectives to their work. Also, I would like a doctor who is not only a talented physician, but a bit of a metaphysician, too. Someone who can treat body and soul.Anatole Broyard 1(p40) * D uring 30 years of teaching family medicine residents, I have witnessed many changes in medicine and the image of physicians. As refl ected by television, the warm and understanding Dr Marcus Welby (whose program debut was the year family medicine became a specialty) has morphed into the arrogant, cynical Dr Gregory House. Whereas Welby helped patients struggling with transformations in their lives through the strength of his humanity, House condescendingly rescues them from death by sagacity and technology. This evolution seems to mirror changes in medicine grown more technically sophisticated and powerful while physician morale has plummeted and public trust eroded.2-4 What happened? Contemporary society has entered a postmodern era in which economic, philosophical, and technological advances have transformed medicine, doctoring, and the doctor-patient relationship.5 A growing service economy rendered physicians "providers," patients "customers," and medicine a "product." A belief in the relativity of knowledge categorizes biomedicine as but one of a variety of legitimate healing models that vie for patients. The authority of the patient's story of illness now competes with the doctor's story of disease. Doctors are confronted with medical information garnered from the Internet, often of dubious quality and unrelated to the patient's clinical condition. A colleague recently reported having a 171 SU F FER ING , ME A NING & HE A L ING9-year-old patient request a hypnotic by brand name, thanks to television advertising. The world of contemporary doctoring has changed! It seems today's physicians are expected to be an amalgam of Welby's warmth and House's brilliance. As advance...

show abstract

“…Rather, it may be understood as something of value which makes possible spiritual connection and transformation (Norris, 2009). This may lead to speculation that secular approaches to healing, such as those offered by allopathic medicine, may invalidate suffering as an important element of human existence (Cassell, 1991).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Palliative care, anaesthesia, pharmacology, psychology, and psychiatry all have as their goal the relief of suffering -be it physical, emotional, psychological or, even, existential. Historically, and in recent years, a large body of literature has concerned itself with issues relating to the management, prevention, and relief of pain and suffering (Boston, Bruce, & Schreiber, 2011;Cassell, 1991;Edwards, 2003;Egnew, 2009;Norris, 2009;van Hooft, 1998). But while the relief of suffering seems laudable, some question whether medicine can, or should, aim for a world without pain, sadness, anxiety, despair or uncertainty (Breggin, 2003;Elliott, 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Perspectives on Human Suffering: Implications for Medicine and Bioethics

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The prevention and relief of suffering has long been a core medical concern. But while this is a laudable goal, some question whether medicine can, or should, aim for a world without pain, sadness, anxiety, despair or uncertainty. To explore these issues, we invited experts from six of the world's major faith traditions to address the following question. Is there value in suffering? And is something lost in the prevention and/or relief of suffering? While each of the perspectives provided maintains that suffering should be alleviated and that medicine's proper role is to prevent and relieve suffering by ethical means, it is also apparent that questions regarding the meaning and value of suffering are beyond the realm of medicine. These perspectives suggest that medicine and bioethics has much to gain from respectful consideration of religious discourse surrounding suffering.

show abstract

Recognizing Suffering

Cited by 127 publications

References 0 publications

The Meaning Of Healing: Transcending Suffering

The Meaning Of Healing: Transcending Suffering

Suffering, Meaning, and Healing: Challenges of Contemporary Medicine

Religious Perspectives on Human Suffering: Implications for Medicine and Bioethics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About