religion
-
Notes on the article by Jaswinder Singh Sandhu “The Sikh Model of the Person, Suffering, and Healing: Implications for Counselors”
The article is aimed at educating western counsellors about the belief system of Sikh population. The author describes the problem of neglect of the culture-specific belief systems in general as potentially overlooking the important healing resources for that particular population. He stands for developing a more flexible approach in counseling that would view “foreign” religious beliefs as equally valid. The quote below proposes a good example of the core difference in the Eastern and Western views of the person and the world. “The Western model of psychiatric illness and mental health is premised on a mindbody dichotomy, rigid adherence to a classification system, and definite distinctions between psychology, religion, medicine,…
-
Notes on article by N. E. Conner and L. S. Eller “Spiritual perspectives, needs and nursing interventions of Christian African–Americans”
The article concludes that “the potential for spiritual care to influence both the psychological and physiological health of patients either directly or indirectly speaks to the urgency of providing patients with appropriate spiritual assessment and interventions” (631). I found this to be the most important part of the article, because while the authors had chosen to explore one subgroup as an example of the spiritual needs of the patients, this conclusion refers to all patients. “Respondents also wrote in their need for nurses to pray with and share personal beliefs with them. We found that 41% of desired spiritual nursing interventions were related to nurses’ direct participation in spiritual activities,…
-
Notes on the case study by T. Borneman, O. Klein, J. Thomas, B. Ferrel “Spiritual Care for Jewish Patients Facing a Life Threatening Illness”
The article is a case study of a 65 year old lady diagnosed with end-stage lung cancer, who is Jewish by birth but who does not share the Jewish religious beliefs. We are shown some of the challenges that chaplains and physicians would need to face in working with Jewish patients. The quote below summarized the main idea of the article (case study): “[This case] illustrates the great differences in belief among jews and demonstrates that clinicians and chaplains cannot make assumptions based on a patient’s self-identification as Jewish”(p.61). We see that there is no one right way to deal with Jewish patients, just as there is not one particular…
-
Notes the article by by Sarah M. Whitman “Pain and Suffering as Viewed by the Hindu Religion”
There are many interesting points made in this article, including the whole idea of acceptance and detachment from the outcome of whatever action. The idea of acceptance is central in Hindu religion as is the concept of Karma through which all the life’s misfortunes are viewed. At the same time, the author shows us with the example of several scientific studies, that acceptance-based strategies in dealing with chronic pain have proved to be more efficient than control-based strategies. Bringing these scientific facts to parallel the religion-based approach is very helpful for medical professionals, for whom it may be difficult to grasp this strategy only based on belief. Another interesting parallel…
-
Medicine is a Humane Art: the Basic Principles of Professional Ethics in Chinese Medicine by Zhang and Cheng
This article provides a review of the history of Chinese medicine and the growth and development of medical ethics in this context. What I found especially interesting is the emphasis on the way ethics is addressed, how ethically right behaviour is promoted. We see that Chinese culture pays much attention to moral evaluation, which is expressed by the filial obedience, being respectful and nice to others independent of their social status, and in cherishing life, with appreciation of mortality. Confucius taught that everybody had an inner sense of right and wrong, which they knew by self examination, rather than by following laws and restrictions. “Benevolence is the core of Confucian…
-
Notes on the article by M. C. Inhorn and G. I. Serour “Islam, medicine, and Arab-Muslim refugee health in America after 9/11”
From this article we learn that muslims do not agree on some common global norms or best practices. Their responses to medical problems and procedures, such as assisted reproductive technologies, are mediated by a wide range of ever-changing local circumstances and social forces. (p.937) There is a great diversity in the world’s Muslim population. In addition to sectarian differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the followers of Islam vary greatly in their religious piety. Some Muslims follow particular clerics, whereas others consider their primary relationship to be with God. “Islam is not monolithic and Islamic religious authorities are not in agreement about science, technology, and medicine—eg, for assisted reproductive technologies,…
-
Notes on the article by A. Baez and D. Hernandez “Complementary Spiritual Beliefs in the Latino Community: The Interface with Psychotherapy”
The article demonstrates that the successful provision of culturally sensitive and culturally inclusive mental health services depends in large part on the level of congruence between the client’s and the mental health practitioner’s respective views of mental illness and its treatment. So, it is vital for mental health professionals to draw the distinction in these matters in order to find the best approach to their patients. This article is intended to help non-Latino mental health practitioners reach that “level of understanding and respect, and also to achieve the adjustment of clinical techniques necessary for better cultural responsiveness to these patients, a matter seldom addressed directly in the mental health literature”…
-
Notes on the article by William R. LaFleur “Body”
“Critical Terms for Religious Studies” edited by Mark C. Taylor This work is dedicated to the exploration of the relationship between religion and body. First of all, LaFleur provides a short overview on the history of this relationship. We see that while most cultured initially insisted on accepting our bodies the way they were (given to us by God), there have also been many physical alterations made to the bodies throughout history on the basis of religious belief. While Christianity has been taking pride in being the one religion that does not promote any changes in the body, it was the first one to apply the term corpses, meaning that…
-
Notes on “Shattering Culture: American Medicine Responds to Cultural Diversity” by Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good (Editor) et al.
The world is changing, the people are moving, the demographics are being reshaped, especially in the US where there are so many immigrants. This book presents a collection of works that describe how are health-care institutions responding to this changing demographics, including issues within the institutional policies and the personal human dilemmas in serving the diverse and constantly changing group of patients. Although it is clear that cultural diversity often covaries with racial and ethnic classifications, we must remember that cultural diversity can exist within ethnic groups as well, and other dimensions of culture (such as those deriving from class background or education). Through various examples we are shown that…
-
Notes on “Medicine, Religion and Health” by Koenig
In his book “Medicine, Religion and Health” Koenig raises several important questions about the role of spirituality in the healthcare settings. First of all, he address the problem of definition of the term spirituality. As it is shown, due to the fact that spirituality in itself is a very private matter, it can be described differently by every person. Koenig brings up several definitions of different researchers and eventually offers his own. In his opinion, spirituality should be linked to religion even though it does not necessarily imply religious belief. While there may be different opinions on the precise definition of spirituality, Koenig points out that in the clinical settings…