Chaplaincy: Spiritual Care as an Integral Part of the Pain Management Team

Abstract

The inclusion of a professional chaplain as part of the interdisciplinary medical team can enhance the team's understanding of a patient's reaction to their medical condition. Contrary to the typically accepted belief on the part of medical professionals as well as the patients themselves, the role and function of the chaplain is not limited to providing prayer for patients in crisis. Even as a chaplain's ability to provide therapeutic prayer is helpful for patients who value prayer as an important part of their spiritual or religious life, chaplains also have the training and skill to explore with the patient how a patient's religious and/or spiritual beliefs can affect their response to treatment, which can include the management of pain. Studies have shown an existential crisis brought on by a serious diagnosis or medical crisis can often be experienced through the framework of a foundational religious or spiritual belief. A chaplain's training in deep listening, reflective questions, and use of self, allows for a patient to explore their beliefs in a way that permits the patient to experience wholeness of self while undergoing medical treatment. It has been found that patients who feel supported in their existential pain often feel more in control of their physical pain.