Addressing spiritual concerns in family medicine: a team approach.
Spiritual conflicts and concerns often accompany serious illness, but many family physicians are slow to recognize these concerns or unsure how to address them. The case of a patient with spinal cord injury and who later developed an astrocytoma is used to illustrate a team approach that involved a family physician, a spiritual counselor, and a psychologist. Narrative writing exercises in which the patient was encouraged to tell his own story also played a role in treatment. The case report includes the patient's own description of his experience with spirituality and spiritual counseling, as well as the perspectives of the spiritual counselor.
Brody
Howard
H
Department of Family Practice, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. brody@msu.edu
Cardinal
Jeffrey L
JL
Foglio
John P
JP
D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D010327:Pastoral Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology; D029181:Spirituality