"Eric Cassel has written movingly of the way in which medicine’s failure to pay appropriate attention to the non-physical aspects of treatment can lead to suffering. Suffering is what a person, rather than a bare biological organism, experiences. It is an existential concept, resulting from consideration of the patient’s life, which is an attribute of them as a person, not just of their body. It occurs when the impending destruction of the person is perceived. ‘Most generally, suffering can be defined as the state of severe distress associated with events that threaten the intactness of the person.’" Wilson B. Metaphysics and medical education: taking holism seriously. J Eval Clin Pract 2013; 19(3): 478-84.
If the above makes you cringe, you're not alone. The thought of one's own and one's loved ones' death is the most difficult thing to contemplate, for everyone, including doctors. What we fear, we tend to avoid. But one cannot avoid reality, after all we're all in it. And, pushing things out of our consciousness just drives them into our subconscious, where it festers and plays havoc with our lives, surfacing in varied unexpected but invariably unpleasant ways like symptoms that mimic physical disease, headaches, anxiety, sleep disturbance, angry outbursts etc etc.
Avoidance doesn't work. The Mindful approach is intentionally embracing reality as it is. It's much easier and infinitely more effective than avoidance.
Who treats suffering? We all self-manage our own. Mindfulness practices alone are powerful. Some people require additional help from mental health professionals, counselors etc.
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| Samish Island, WA |
