Spiritual Counseling in Medicine

Book excerpt: Spirituality, in this book, is considered both as a force for personal growth and as a therapeutic strategy to be applied for counseling people with severe illnesses or existential problems. Usually, spiritual counseling aims to foster the client's insight in his or her own soul and emotional resources. By moving towards self-discovery, aiming to deeper connectedness with others, and by appreciating the healing effect of being part of the whole, a person can get help to cope with threats and anxiety. However, also counselors, helpers, doctors, and nurses, through a higher understanding of the ethical and spiritual implications of their own role, can add an extra value and efficacy to their daily practice. Basically, spiritual counseling can attain a healing effect whereas other therapeutic attempts have been unsuccessful. This little book stands as a theoretical and practical guide to support all those people, professionals, helpers, counselors, that put all their efforts to improve the well-being of people living with serious illnesses, adjusting to preoccupying medical diagnoses, facing stressful life events, or coping with intractable crises. At the same time, this book can also be used as a self-help guide to understand the own spiritual resources and to discover the routes to healing the self.