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Care of the Soul in Medicine: Healing Guidance for Patients, Families, and the People Who Care for Them Hardcover – Illustrated, 15 April 2010
by Thomas Moore Bmedsci Bmbs MRCP (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
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Few experiences stir the emotions and throw a person into crisis as illness does. If affects not only the body but also the spirit and soul. Illness is about life and death, fear and hope, love and conflict, spirit and body. And yet, the healthcare system is not structured around these considerations--our doctors and other medical professionals are not trained to deal with the whole person. Care of the Soul In Medicine is Moore's manifesto about the future of healthcare. In this new vision of care, Moore speaks to the importance of healing a person rather than simply treating a body. He gives advice to both healthcare providers and patients for maintaining dignity and humanity. He provides spiritual guidance for dealing with feelings of mortality and threat, encouraging patients to not only take an active part in healing but also to view illness as a positive passage to new awareness. While we don't fully understand the extent to which healing depends on attitude; it has been shown that healing needs to focus on more than the body. The future of medicine is not only in new technical developments and research discoveries; it is also in appreciating the state of soul and spirit in illness.
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"I wish Care of the Soul in Medicine had been available when I was a medical student, because it is one of the wisest guides for health-care professionals I have ever read. Moore shows that without attention to the spirit, there can be no true healing. If taken seriously, the wisdom in his book could transform medicine in America. This book is desperately needed by patients, too, and by all those who love and care for them."
-- Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Power of Premonitions and Healing Words
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"This accessible and engaging book reminds us that caring is a sacred calling; that care of the body is care of the soul; and that health care practiced with depth, beauty, respect, and meaning can transform our hospitals into temples of healing. I would love to think that every medical student would read this book."
-- Michael Kearney, M.D., medical director of palliative care service at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, associate medical director at Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care, medical director to the Anam Cara Project for Compassionate Companionship in Life and Death, and author of Place of Healing and Mortally Wounded
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"Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul in Medicine is an unusually thoughtful exploration of current medical culture and its focus on treatment and cure, often at the expense of caring and healing. He makes an inspirational and convincing case for true transformation in health care that goes beyond our fascination with technology to encompass heart, mind, and spirit."
-- Susan B. Frampton, Ph.D., president of Planetree, a nonprofit organization and internationally recognized leader in patient-centered care
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-"Care of the Soul in Medicine may be your best friend through illness, and a life-giving companion for many who seek to reclaim the joy they once knew in the healing arts."
-- Rev. Dr. Marcus M. McKinney, D.Min., LPC, director, Department of Pastoral Counseling and Community Outreach, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center; and assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
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"Moore sees the mechanics of medicine, and offers another view that has its roots in the beginnings of medical care, in the Soul of a caregiver. It is a thoughtful book for patients, families, caregivers, and all of us who will eventually enter the realm of medical care (and we all will)."
-- George Doebler, director, Pastoral Care, Emeritus, University of Tennessee Medical Center
About the Author
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241 pages
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About the Author
Best-selling author and psychotherapist Thomas Moore has written numerous books on spirituality, including Writing in the Sand, Soul Mates, Life at Work, and the New York Times bestseller Care of the Soul. Born in Detroit, Michigan, to an Irish Catholic family, Moore devoted his life to the study of theology, world religions, Jungian and archetypal psychology, the history of art, and world mythology. He currently lives in New Hampshire.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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lennette
4.0 out of 5 stars interestingReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 11 April 2015
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Insightful reading as a nurse and midwife of nearly 30yrs I loved the practical application of soul and spirit into the hospital setting and that we are so much more than our bodies
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GeenaGee
5.0 out of 5 stars How to REALLY put patients at the heart of the NHS!!Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 27 January 2012
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This book is fantastic!! It gives a way of looking at patients as real people and shows what is REALLY missing in our health care system. The author recognises the need for healthcare to be a total experience and not just about cutting, dosing, fixing or removing. It should be mandatory reading for every doctor, nurse and healthcare worker in the UK.
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Rachel
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent bookReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 12 April 2013
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Thoughtfully written. All doctors and nursing staff should read this and apply its wisdom. It would make a hospital stay so much better for the patient, who seems to have been sidelined into 'symptoms' that just happen to be attached to a body, with the 'real person' within forgotten.
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P . Brill
4.0 out of 5 stars Four StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 16 April 2015
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a very informative book and so very needed to learn from it.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars a must-readReviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 23 September 2011
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I had to use this as a text book for a course. It is very well researched and should be a must-read for nurses, doctors, students and patients. It focuses on the integral part of medical practitioners having a caring soul in the medical fields as opposed to the previous views as seeing hospitals as "body factories", getting the patients in and out. It made for interesting class discussions. Now that I've read this book, I have noticed that more doctors and nurses I have encountered are more positive and patient-focused. Pretty eye-opening!
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chromodynamica
3.0 out of 5 stars good info, with an ego garnishReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 27 August 2018
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This book has a lot of great ideas, and it's clear that the author put a lot of time and consideration into writing it. It has much to offer to those who care for others as well as those in a position of receiving care. The author phrases his points in such a way that anyone can hear what he's conveying...even those who tend to resist information when provided in the form of advice.
I learned something that I'll gratefully carry forth about humility and being humble from this book... specifically, through my irritation at the author's habit of constantly giving himself credit throughout the text. Thomas Moore absolutely could claim credit for the research he's done and the deductions he's made—but it might have been a more effective and selfless delivery to have kindly provided the information without referring to himself and giving himself credit at every turn.
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Carolyn M. Kell
21-08-2017
So Needed in this time of Crisis in Health Care
Great read because it tackles what is needed in this time of health care turmoil and what I perceive as real resistance to truly putting America's best interests forward.
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Carolyn M. Kell
21-08-2017
So Needed in this time of Crisis in Health Care
Great read because it tackles what is needed in this time of health care turmoil and what I perceive as real resistance to truly putting America's best interests forward.
Whether you are at your healthiest or struggling with a lifetime sentence of chronic pain or type 1 diabestes, you will benefit from the knowledge and observations that Moore so delicately and comprehensively covers.
As Woody Allen says: " We all suffer from 2 conditions: taxes and death." Ha! But, yes, no one escapes this reality. So, it is our duty to understand what is wrong with this stifling system and work for change. Again, this book captures exactly what's missing in our current blighted state of health care and shows the way to recover. Definitely worth the thoughtful person's time!
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Loretta M. Siani
09-06-2015
Insightful honest
Thomas Moore delivers another great work on the soul. He nails for the listener what is missing in the practice of medicine and the things that would change it from a wasteland of arrogance and ego power to a realm of nurturing, true caring and real healing. Loretta Siani author of Everyday Miracles
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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Dorothy
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July 6, 2011
I read Thomas More's first book Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life and found it very enlightening.
I was however rather disappointed in this offering.
Thomas Moore has some important things to say about the practice of medicine but I do feel that putting it into the context of soul and spirit is not a particularly good fit in this case.
Some of the suggestions (having a dream chart next the medical chart in a patient's room for example) seems rather ludicrous to me.
I think the point he is trying to make is that imagery is an important way for patients to speak about their illness, but as a patient, I think I would like to keep my dreams to myself.
Basically the book is saying that Medicine should not be impersonal, and that arrogance on behalf of doctors is counter-productive. Everything should be done to help the patient feel comfortable and have dignity.
I certainly will not argue with that, but I feel that this book relies too heavily on the writer's Catholic beliefs to be helpful to other who do not share his religious convictions.
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Steve Hardy
10 years ago
The idea that we as a culture view a "dream diary" as ludicrous in concert with a medical chart, I think proves the observation Moore is making. Why is it when we are dealing with physical illness we suddenly forget that throughout our daily lives we do not refer to medical charts solely to assess and evaluate our quality of life? Relationships, beauty, humor, comfort, social engagement, entertainment, meaningful experiences - these are some of the measures of what makes up our daily lives. Why does this need to change when we are facing an illness?
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Dorothy
10 years ago
Steve wrote: "The idea that we as a culture view a "dream diary" as ludicrous in concert with a medical chart, I think proves the observation Moore is making. Why is it when we are dealing with physical illness ..."
As a person who has been dealing with chronic illness for 20 years, I wholeheartedly agree with what you are saying. In fact, the need for all the things you list for good quality of life is even more important when we are ill. We may not have the energy to do what we did before...and even social occasions can be difficult but the patient does need to build in time for relationships and ...fun!
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Karla Monroy
16 reviews
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October 7, 2016
Gracias a este libro descubrí a Thomas Moore, quien es claro, preciso e invita a reflexionar sobre temas relevantes de la existencia humana.
Dirigido a médicos, enfermeras y pacientes, así que nos concierne a todos.
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Steven Chang
6 reviews
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July 17, 2013
Four years of studying biology, chemistry or other sciences in undergrad, four more years in medical school, and two more for residency, and even more for those who want to specialize in a certain medical field.
Students that undergo through this process is overwhelmed with information and learning about diseases, treatments, etc.
Thomas Moore, in this book, presents a critical view that many medical schools hardly touch in teaching: spirituality and healthcare. How do we as Christians treat patients in the secular medical world?
The Care of the Soul has a bunch of information and examples on how we can intertwine our faith into treating patients. Many times doctors view patients as experiments and physiological parts, not as holistic beings.
Although there are some views that Moore discusses that I do not exactly agree with, because of our differences in spirituality, I believe that overall, he does an incredible job informing this generation what the medical field is lacking and in need of. I recommend this book for any future physicians that are going to be dealing and treating patients!
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Elizabeth
364 reviews
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November 16, 2010
Moore is basically saying in this book what he's said in most of his previous ones: that we need to honor our souls as well as our spirits. But he still says it well (plenty of practice!), and when talking about illness and the modern health-care system, it still needs saying. Moore encourages the medical profession to support patients' dignity and individuality and to connect with them as people while performing the sacred duties of healing. But he also has advice for patients: to share in the responsibility of preserving their individuality and to remember that they have lives and concerns beyond their illnesses. It was a bit depressing to read Moore's vision of what health care could be like and then think about the reality of my local health-care system (it's really tempting right now to mail a copy of this book to the CEO of my insurance company!), but his stories of the changes he sees happening and his suggestions for further change were encouraging.
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Adodom
16 reviews
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November 20, 2013
An excellent read and Moore does not disappoint. As with Care of The Soul, this book brings soul work for the patient and medical establishment. As someone who is dealing with a chronic illness, I forgot to consider my soul too needs care as well. I must confess guilt of viewing myself in parts -- the disease, and not as a total person -- mind, body, spirit, and soul. He brought me back, delightfully, to the whole of me. The best thing since my diagnosis.
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stormhawk
1,384 reviews
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July 8, 2010
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book that takes a close look at the depersonalization (of patients and caregivers) that is so common in medicine, and discusses ways to address it. One of the most important things to take away from reading, for me at least, was to be fully present when talking to a patient ... don't fake attention, give it.
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Alex K
137 reviews
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September 25, 2015
A solid 3.75 stars. The book starts out strong, with many great insights about how medicine is practiced and how that avoids the soul and spirit of the people involved, and was a great insight into how I can bring greater meaning into my practice. The loss of a star is mostly because it goes a little longer than it needs to.
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Gail Hernandez
19 reviews
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January 17, 2016
I think this is one of Thomas Moore's best books.
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