Team Spiritual Care: Spiritual Pain

Submitted by Marcy Morgan, Spiritual Care Manager Reprinted from Health Progress, January-February 2011 BY MARY T. O’NEILL, D.Min., B.C.C. and CATERINA MAKO, Th.M., B.C.C. Spiritual pain is a component of the psychosocial factors that contribute to a person's experience of pain. As such, it must be identified and treated. Physical pain can be exacerbated by nonphysical causes, including the following: Fear Anxiety Grief and impending loss Unrecognized guilt Unmet spiritual needs Loss of control Spiritual issues can have an impact on how one deals with physical pain.For example, a person may refuse medications or treatments for reasons based on belief systems, i.e., "God sent me this pain; therefore, I have to accept and endure it." Unrelieved physical pain can cause emotional or spiritual pain and suffering.For example, a person might wonder why the pain was not relieved and may feel unduly punished. Cultures and religious traditions also may influence how people interpret and deal with the experience of pain. Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement, coined the term "total pain" to describe pain that is all-encompassing of mind, body, spirit, and emotion in the person facing the end of life, as well as in that person's family. Spirituality is not just a part of us as human beings, it is intrinsic, our essence as humans. Rachel Naomi Remen describes it as "our birthright."Whether we acknowledge its presence or not, it is integral to our being human.