Spiritual care of the person with AIDS. Literature and art can touch closed hearts.
Spiritual ministers, challenged to find meaningful ways to heal the hearts of persons with AIDS, are turning to some untraditional sources for help. Poetry, art, and stories are among the creative instruments for healing that pastoral ministers are bringing to the bedsides of the terminally ill. The story is the primary tool of spiritual care. Spiritual ministers working with persons with AIDS and their families should elicit and listen to their stories, which serve multiple purposes. Telling the stories is therapeutic for the person with AIDS. For the minister, the stories identify areas that need reconciliation, as well as those which call for celebration. Finally, when the time is right, the minister can tell another story, one that offers consolation and hope to the afflicted. Ritual is another tool of spiritual care. Just as the concrete image symbolizes the spiritual reality, so, too, does ritual facilitate or help celebrate spiritual healing. The Bible is a rich source of ideas for creative ritual. Other effective tools are art, drama, poetry, guided meditations, and dreams. In the hands of sensitive care givers, they are instruments of spiritual healing.
Roche
J
J
St. Peter's Hospital, Albany, NY.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D001155:Art Therapy; D001638:Bibliotherapy; D002835:Christianity; D006801:Humans; D010327:Pastoral Care