Care of the Soul In Medicine: Healing Guidance for Patients, Families, and the People Who Care for Them Book

      Few experiences stir the emotions and throw a person into crisis as illness does. If affects not only the body but also the spirit and soul. Illness is about life and death, fear and hope, love and conflict, spirit and body. And yet, the healthcare system is not structured around these considerations—our doctors and other medical professionals are not trained to deal with the whole person.

     Care of the Soul In Medicine is Moore’s manifesto about the future of healthcare. In this new vision of care, Moore speaks to the importance of healing a person rather than simply treating a body. He gives advice to both healthcare providers and patients for maintaining dignity and humanity. He provides spiritual guidance for dealing with feelings of mortality and threat, encouraging patients to not only take an active part in healing but also to view illness as a positive passage to new awareness. While we don’t fully understand the extent to which healing depends on attitude; it has been shown that healing needs to focus on more than the body.

      The future of medicine is not only in new technical developments and research discoveries; it is also in appreciating the state of soul and spirit in illness.

Publishers Weekly

In his latest volume on everyday upkeep of the soul, psychotherapist/theologist and prolific author Moore (Care of the Soul, Soul Mates, Dark Knights of the Soul) looks at the ways that health care addresses the spirit and soul-with body, the three distinct aspects of the human condition-and the how it can do so better. Addressing providers and patients, Moore gives readers ways to tell if a doctor works with his soul, explaining why a good bedside manner-a sense of connection, a willingness to take off the mask-is a vital characteristic of an effective healer, but also addresses topics like a provider's sense of calling, spiritual meaning, the relevance of emotional and personality issues, and the physical environment itself. An understanding of often-unconscious factors he calls "emotional complexes" is key, and Moore takes readers through his concepts with an insightful and accessible voice, offering much reassurance and love as he goes. Citing his extensive scholarly background and his own experience with doctors, Moore challenges the modern notion of dispassionate and highly regimented health care, offering practical and conceptually simple ideas to incorporate awareness of "soul" into the health care equation.
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