Hope-Lore and the Compassionate Clinician

Abstract

Writers, both literary and academic, have long pointed to the importance of hope for humanity. One of the ancient Greek myths, familiar to many, tells us of Pandora, who, as the story goes, opened a box from the gods and let hope out. It is revealing that one version of the myth sees hope as the last of a series of miseries inflicted on us (‘‘bad hope’’), whereas the other sees it as a redemptive balm, as offering a way to endure despite the said miseries (‘‘good hope’’). There continues to be some collective uncertainty about hope, with the combined weight of literary aphorisms, proverbs, and quotable quotesdmany originating from eminent thinkers and writers across the agesdencapsulating the ambivalence that hope engenders. In this article, I reflect on a little of this collective hope-lore, considering how and where it intersects with academic thought on hope, specifically hope within amedical context, and the implications for compassionate clinicians who care for those affected by illness. A brief caveat: I am not a clinician, but an academic and researcher privileged to explore how hope is experienced and understood in a medical context. I typically work with patients (and families) faced with a cancer diagnosis, including those for whom cure seemed possible and those for whom it did not. Thus, my perspective is informed by my research focus