A great talk on the dynamic connection between one\'s faith and health.

1. The Role of Spirituality in Health and Illness Christina Puchalski MD Christina M. Puchalski, M.D. The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Washington, D.C.

7. Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning. Victor Frankl Christina Puchalski MD

8. For many people religion (spirituality) forms the basis of meaning and purpose in life. The profoundly disturbing effects of illness can call into question a person’s purpose in life and work…. Healing, the restoration of wholeness (as opposed to mainly technical healing), requires answers to these questions. Foglio and Brody. Journal of Family Practice. 1988 Christina Puchalski MD

11. Spirituality is integral to the dying person’s achievement of the developmental task of transcendence and important for health care providers to recognize and foster. Christina Puchalski MD

12. The physician will do better to be close by to tune in carefully on what may be transpiring spiritually both in order to comfort the dying and to broaden his or her own understanding of life at its ending. Sally Leighton. Spiritual Life: 1996 Christina Puchalski MD

13. What the Research Shows Christina Puchalski MD

20. “ To the extent that any disease is caused or made worse by stress, to that extent evoking the relaxation response is effective therapy.” Herbert Benson, M.D. The Relaxation Response. Christina Puchalski MD

21. 60 to 90% of all Patient Visits to Primary Care offices are stress related Christina Puchalski MD

22. The Placebo Effect Christina Puchalski MD

24. Remembered Wellness A Patient’s Desire for Health Christina Puchalski MD

38. Spiritual Relationships Christina Puchalski MD

54. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) Pastoral counseling and other spiritual services are often an integral part of the patient’s daily life. When requested the hospital provides, or provides for, pastoral counseling services. Christina Puchalski MD

55. Physicians should extend their care for those with serious medical illness by attentiveness to psycho-social, existential, or spiritual suffering. American College of Physicians End-of Life Consensus Panel, 1998 Christina Puchalski MD

56. Physicians must be compassionate and empathic in caring for patients… In all of their interactions with patients they must seek to understand the meaning of the patients’ stories in the context of the patients’ beliefs and family and cultural values…. They must continue to care for dying patients even when disease-specific therapy is no longer available or desired. MSOP Report I, Association of American Medical colleges, 1998 Christina Puchalski MD

60. Spirituality and Medicine Courses at The George Washington University School of Medicine Interwoven with the rest of the Practice of Medicine curriculum throughout the four years of medical school. Christina Puchalski MD

62. MSOP Report III: Spirituality, Cultural Issues and End of Life Care Spirituality is recognized as a factor that contributes to health in many persons. The concept of spirituality is found in all cultures and societies. It is expressed in an individual’s search for ultimate meaning through participation in religion and / or belief in God, family, naturalism, rationalism, humanism and the arts. All these factors can influence how patients and health care professionals perceive health and illness and how they interact with one another. MSOP Report III. Association of American Medical Colleges, 1999 Christina Puchalski MD

67. General Recommendations Consider spirituality as a potentially important component of every patient’s physical well-being and mental health. Address spirituality at each complete physical exam; continue addressing it at follow-up visits if appropriate. In patient care, spirituality is an ongoing issue. Respect patient’s privacy regarding spiritual beliefs; don’t impose your beliefs on others. Christina Puchalski MD

69. We are better physicians and truly partners in our patients’ living and in their dying if we can be compassionate; if we truly listen to their hopes, their fears, their beliefs and incorporate these beliefs into their therapeutic plans. Christina Puchalski MD

70. When my mother died, I inherited her needlepoint tapestries. When I was a little boy, I used to sit at her feet as she worked on them. Have you ever seen needlepoint from underneath? All I could see was chaos, strands of threads all over, with no seeming purpose. As I grew, I was able to see her work from above. I came to appreciate the patterns, and the need for dark threads as well as bright and gaily colored ones. Life is like that. From our human perspective, we cannot see the whole picture. But we should not despair or feel that there is no purpose. There is meaning and purpose, even for the dark threads, but we cannot see that right away. Rabbi Kenneth L. Cohen Christina Puchalski MD