“Soul Care” for people with dementia: Insights from Friedrich von Hügel’s “three Elements of Religion”

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article, Baron Friedrich von Hügel’s “three Elements of Religion” are provided as a schema for exploring attentive, individualised “soul care” for people with dementia. This article argues that the best way to respond to the diminution of the “Intellectual Element” for people with dementia is to explicitly increase the attention and nurture we give to the other two Elements—the “Mystical” and the “Institutional Elements.” It is argued that people with dementia still experience God, often in ways we cannot observe or understand, and that the stimulation of the senses may help in the provision of attentive “soul care.” The place of religious rituals and music therapy in attentive “soul care” is also discussed.