The difference between religion and spirituality
Address the patient on all levels
"Do I believe a belief system impacts a person’s health? Absolutely!" says Sister Rhea Emmer, a Roman Catholic nun who works with the Catholic Health Association of Wisconsin in Fond du Lac and teaches spirituality for health care professionals around the United States.
There is a difference between religion and spirituality, says Emmer, and it is the spirit of the patient that must be addressed, regardless of religious doctrine on either side of the medical dividing line.
"Take nurses, for example: Part of the job is to help meet the spiritual needs of the patient. They are not there to preach, proselytize, or evangelize. I make a clear distinction there," she says.
Health care professionals who understand the difference between religion and spirituality have what Emmer calls "a powerful ability to tap into the inner resources of the patient."
The primary role of the physician, she contends, should be to help patients tap into their inner healer — not under the guise of religion, but in the sense of "spirit to spirit. You cannot heal the body without spirit."
What is the key to that connection? "Active listening," says Emmer.
Her philosophy is shared by family practitioner Maureen Murphy-Greenwood, MD, of the Wisconsin Dells Family Practice in Baraboo. "Fully half the people I see every day will cry," says Murphy-Greenwood. "They feel safe enough with me to open up."
What does she do that’s different? "I listen. I try to bring an open book to every patient I see. I try for my heart to touch their hearts. When they feel safe enough to talk about their soul’s pain, I know we’re where we need to be," she explains.
Sometimes the discussion starts off simply, even casually. Murphy-Greenwood might gently inquire why she is seeing a patient for an upper respiratory infection for the third time in as many months.
"She will usually tell me how stressed she is and how busy her life is," she says. "And I’ll help her see the connection with what her body is telling her, and ask her what she can learn from it."
There’s no magic to this simple, but powerful message, Murphy-Greenwood says. She usually tells patients with the recurring colds that she can prescribe some pills, but the cold will likely return, perhaps in a more resistant form.
"That’s when [the patient will] say, I don’t want to do this anymore,’ and frequently begin to cry. I tell [that patient] we can do this together, and we start with baby steps, by taking time to meditate or pray, to exercise for energy and health, and to heal relationships."
Emmer calls that an opportunity for the "door to open wide and with a release of pain, which leads to healing."
Murphy-Greenwood agrees that patients put a great deal of stock in what a physician has to say, but tempers it by admitting "I am not here so much to fix their problems as to help them [vocalize them]."
To health care professionals who don’t think they have the personal tools to help their patients tap into the inner healer, Murphy-Greenwood offers some advice. "Don’t be afraid it will take too much time. These things just slip in during the ordinary conversation you have with patients if they know you’re really listening. Don’t be afraid a patient will say something you don’t have an answer for. Just listen and echo back what you hear."
Finally, she suggests health care professionals who aren’t in touch with their own spirituality might be more fearful of approaching those issues with patients. "Do your own work, look at your own issues, and become much more of a healer."
Emmer adds, "Doctors and health care professionals are not just glorified mechanics of the body. It is time to re-establish the bridge between medicine and spirit. We have to go back to being shamans."
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