Spirituality, Religious Wisdom, and the Care of the Patient

Sadness: A Catholic/Jewish Dialogue

Introduction

Alan B. Astrow, M.D.
aastrow@maimonidesmed.org

On May 17, 2004, the topic was "Sadness: A Catholic/Jewish Dialogue."  The session was held at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  Ours speakers were Father Richard Rohr, OFM, and Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller.  There are several aspects to this problem that I asked our speakers to address. 

 

First is the sadness of the patient.  Illness often involves loss-loss of the state of good health.  Sometimes a patient may attempt to deny the loss (and denial is one of our subjects for discussion later this year) but once the reality of loss is accepted, painful emotions may be felt-sadness, shame (next month's subject), guilt, and sometimes a sense of hopelessness or helplessness.   These emotions may have demonstrable bodily effects-sleeplessness, anorexia, disrupted personal relationships, impaired work performance-- as we all know. 

 

Second, and I think less often commented upon, is the sadness of the health care professional.  We too may feel saddened by losses that our patients sustain-though our professional roles preclude us from showing it.   They are losses for us in a sense as well.  And these emotions may also have real effects on us, on our relationships with our patients, and with others.

 

The question that motivates this series, a question that I've stated in various forms each month, is the role that the religious voice might play in helping us to acknowledge, and ultimately to overcome these unavoidable human emotions.  We have medical science-to help us understand the causes of illness, and how to diagnose and treat it; we have psychology and psychobiology-to help us to understand the workings of the mind and to treat dysfunctional behaviors; and we have moral philosophy-to help teach us right and wrong-what our ethical obligations are, for instance, to our patients.

 

I asked our speakers to respond to the question:  What, if anything does a non-fundamentalist religious understanding add in helping us deal with practical issues that we face as health care professionals.  Since we were dealing with two theistic faith traditions, a more direct way to state the question might be:  given the gifts of medical science, of human psychology and of psychobiology, and of moral philosophy-as a practical matter in dealing with the problems of illness, is there any role left for God or for the language of faith?

Fr. Richard Rohr, "Sadness"
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, "Sadness in the Context of Illness: A Jewish Perspective"
Table of Contents

Published: October 11, 2004