The Meaning Of Healing: Transcending Suffering

Abstract

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.

The Impact of an Interim Protection Order (Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998) on the Victims of Domestic Violence

“…He views spirituality as an important aspect of healing. Other findings of this study are that suffering is transcended when invested with meaning congruent with a new sense of personal wholeness, and that wholeness of personhood is facilitated through personal relationships that are marked by continuity (Egnew, 2005). Egnew (2005) concludes that developing a sense of personal wholeness involved the physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual aspects of human experience.…”

“…Measuring general well-being entails the assessment of positive states of functioning and/or the factors contributing to the quality of life (MacDonald & Friedman, 2002), taking the physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual aspects of human experience into account (Egnew, 2005).…”

“…According to MacDonald and Friedman (2002) After conducting the interviews with above influential theorists and subjecting these interviews to grounded theory content analysis, Egnew (2005) concluded that 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" (p. 255) Healing is thus the personal experience of the transcendence of suffering (Egnew, 2005) and is the process of bringing together all the aspects of the self, body-mind-spirit, at deeper levels of inner knowing, leading towards integration and balance, with each aspect having equal importance and value (Dossey, Keegan & Guzzetta, 2005). According to Eric Cassell, wholeness requires a relationship with yourself, your body, your culture and significant others.…”

Radical Ideas

“…The study by Egnew 21 "draws our attention back to the original intent of being a doctor, where technical knowledge and medical interventions need to be used in service of the person of the patient." 22 "A response to suffering and the ordeal that it causes patients may most call for healers to 'be present.'…”

Revisiting Spirituality in Aging

“…Suffering is inherent in illness and creates a crisis for examining one's purpose in life, life's meaning, and what is truly important. Egnew (2005) believes that the sharing of suffering in the context of the provider-patient relationship establishes a "connection" in which healing can occur, and this healing reduces the isolation of suffering, enables the patient to reformulate meaning and purpose, and offers the patient the ability to transcend suffering. Within this connected relationship, patients can be helped to recognize their own internal spiritual resources, and treatment choices can be grounded in the individual rather than the illness, thus maximizing function while also reducing suffering (Cassell, 1999;Egnew, 2005), all "with the goal of preserving intactness and integrity" (Egnew 2005, p. 260).…”