CARING FOR THE WHOLE PERSON

1
CARING FOR THE WHOLE PERSON

• God, Medicine, and Miracles (GMM) - chpt 1
• Helping Hurting People (HHP) lesson 1

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The Overall Goal Healing

• Curing the physical disease(s)
• Resolving the psycho-social and spiritual
  problems ? Healing the heart, mind, soul, and
  spirit. This helps in curing the disease
• Restoring the sick person to full life

3
The spirit of a person

• The inner core of the personality that deals with
  
• Relationships with the spiritual dimension of
  life God, or other spiritual powers
• The Will where we make basic life decisions
• Where we ask the basic questions of life
• Who am I? identity
• Why am I here? - meaning, purpose
• What has gone wrong?
• How am I to live?

4
Spiritual care What is it?

• Personal and spiritual assessment - history
• Discerning personal and spiritual problems
• Inviting a person into a personal relationship
  with Jesus Christ salvation
• Resolution of inner problems to restore peace
• Helping a person find true identity a positive
  self image and find meaning and purpose in life
• Prayer for healing

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Spiritual care is back IN

• JCAHO requires hospitals to provide spiritual
  care
• It must be patient directed
• It is evidence-based
• The Faith Factor, Dale Matthews
• The Link Between Religion and Health,
  Harold Koenig and Harvey Cohen

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Anger at God

• You are examining a man with severe coronary
  artery disease. You ask him about his faith, and
  he replies angrily
• How can I believe in a God who allowed a drunken
  driver to kill my 5 year old grandson?!
• Do you think this is affecting his heart disease?
• How would you reply to him?

7
In ancient times

• Illness was thought to be primarily a spiritual
  issue
• Faith and healing were together
• The priest was the healer
• The temple was the place of healing

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With the rise of Science

• Faith and science became separated
• Religion and healing went separate ways
• Faith is now spiritual, private, for eternity
• Medicine is secular, practical, impersonal, and
  scientific
• Few people see the interface between physical and
  spiritual realms

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WESTERN BIO-MEDICAL MODEL

• Isaiah 2820 The bed is too short to stretch
  out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around
  you.
• Why is the bio-medical way of healing too short
  and too narrow?

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BIO-MEDICAL MODEL OF HEALING

• Focus is on disease, not on the person who is ill
• Focus is on cure of the disease, not on
  restoration of the sick person to health
• Neglects emotional, social, and spiritual
  concerns of the sick person
• It is a fragmented approach

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Results

• Evidence-based medicine this is good
• Depersonalization of sick persons we treat
  organs, lab results, not people this is bad
• Depersonalization of health professionals we
  become technicians this is bad
• Commercialization of medicine a pill for every
  pain this is worse

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• BODY
• Physical

2. SOUL Psycho-logical
4. SOCIAL Relationships
3. SPIRIT Spiritual
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CAREGIVERS
BODY
SOUL

PHYSICIAN
COUNSELOR
Office 2800 Medical Park Blvd
Office 194 Broadway.
SOCIAL
SPIRIT
PASTORS PRIESTS
SOCIAL WORKER
Office 1260 Quillen Blvd.. Suite 201
Office Christ Community Church.
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Divided Care

• Care for each of these four dimensions is
  separate
• Different caregivers for each dimension
• Different locations, appointments, fee
  structures, etc.
• Therefore no unified care

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Interactions

• What happens in one dimension of life affects the
  other three
• The relationship may be cause or effect
• Without care for all dimensions, healing and
  restoration to wholeness do not occur

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SOUL
BODY

SOCIAL
SPIRIT
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BODY
SOUL
Hypertension Heart Disease Chronic pain
inflammation Auto-immune disorders Digestive
problems Diabetes Malignancies Many infections
Fear Worries Anxiety Anger Bitterness Resentmen
t Hostility Shame Guilt Jealousy Envy Grief

SOCIAL
SPIRIT
Dysfunctional relationships Loss of significant
other Divorce Abuse Poverty Unemployment
Lack of identity Meaninglessness Poor
self-image Depression Sense of rejection Lonelines
s
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BODY
SOUL
Hypertension Heart Disease Chronic pain
inflammation Auto-immune disorders Digestive
problems Malignancies Many infections
Fear Worries Anxiety Anger Bitterness Resentmen
t Hostility Shame Guilt Jealousy Envy Grief

SOCIAL
SPIRIT
Dysfunctional relationships Loss of significant
other Divorce Abuse Poverty Unemployment
Distorted view of God Lack of identity
Meaninglessness Poor self-image Depression Sense
of rejection Loneliness
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Conclusion

• Problems of soul, spirit, or relationships can
  affect the body by
• 1. Producing physical symptoms and illness
• 2. Aggravating existing diseases
• 3. Impeding recovery from illness

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What can we do to care for the whole person?

• Learn how to take a personal and spiritual
  history
• Learn how to explain these dynamics to sick
  persons
• Train spiritual caregivers to work in the clinic
  as part of the team

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A team approach

• Health providers who understand wholeness
• Lay caregivers trained in spiritual care
• Regular consultations between them
• Remove the lines between physical, psychological,
  social and spiritual care
• Much prayer

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The Team
Religious communities
Family
Medical staff
Spiritual caregivers
Nursing staff
Friends
Administrative staff
Social services
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Whole person care in the clinic
J E
J E S U S
U S
MEDICAL
SOCIAL
EMOTIONAL
SPIRITUAL
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BODY
SOUL
Hypertension Heart Disease Chronic pain
inflammation Auto-immune disorders Digestive
problems Malignancies Many infections
Fear Worries Anxiety Anger Bitterness Resentmen
t Hostility Shame Guilt Jealousy Envy Grief

CARE
SOCIAL
SPIRIT
Dysfunctional relationships Divorce Loss of
significant other Abuse Poverty Unemployment
Lack of identity meaninglessness Poor
self-image Depression Sense of rejection Lonelines
s
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Results of Whole Person Care

• Improvement or healing of the whole person
• Restoration to partial or complete functional
  wholeness
• Bringing faith and science, the church and
  medicine back together

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We must make a huge paradigm shift

• From thinking technologically to thinking
  wholistically
• From a focus on disease to a focus on the person
• From curing to healing
• Shifting paradigms IS NOT EASY
• It involves changing thinking and habits

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A Wholistic Clinical Attitude

• God, what are you doing in Mrs. Smiths life?
• Where do you want me to fit in?
• What medical and spiritual care should I use
  with her?

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Conclusion

• Healing of the heart -
• mind, soul, spirit,
• and relationships -
• FAVORS
• not guarantees
• healing of the body.

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Question

• How do you see this fitting into your own
  practice or situation?
• List the advantages and difficulties
• When you were sick in the past, who were your
  caregivers and what did they do for you?
• Did you have other personal concerns that were
  not addressed?
• How do you feel that could have been done?