I am part of the generation born during WW II, who now look in the mirror and are startled by the realization that even we are aging. The youngest of us has already reached that unheard of age of 65 and with Medicare card in hand are trying to make sense of how did we become our parents generation.
Can faith and community be powerful aids to those caring for an aging loved one? In honoring our “father and mother,” how do we honor ourselves? Can a deeper understanding of spirituality and aging result in better care?
In this webinar I conducted for SilverPlanet.com, I focus on the spiritual aspects involved in the “art” of caregiving.
At dinner the other night, a friend asked if I had a list of all the things an adult child should discuss with their aging parent. As we delved deeper into the question, it turned out that my friend’s mother on many occasions had alluded to a “file” that contained all her necessary paperwork but had never gone beyond that introduction. My friend wanted to know how to learn more about what her mom really had in the file and what she should ensure is completed. Read more
The concept of the physician as a wounded healer and how it can positively affect the practice of medicine has been around for a long time. In Greek mythology. Chiron was the first wounded healer. He was accidentally wounded by an arrow from Heracles’s bow. He didn’t die, but suffered terrible pain for the rest of his life, as the wound never totally healed.
Donald M. Friedman, MD
Chiron searched for his own cure and in the process learned about suffering and healing. He taught others, particularly Esculapius, one of the founding fathers of Western medicine, about the healing arts and through his teaching found comfort from his pain. It was because of his deep wound that Chiron became known as a great healer in ancient Greece. Well known historical figures have commented on this image of the wounded healer over the years. Plato said that the most skillful physicians rather than being models of good health are those who have suffered from all sorts of illnesses. Thomas Jefferson asked, “Who then can so softly bind up the wound of another as he who has felt the same wound himself?” Carl Jung, the famous psychotherapist, said “The doctor is effective only when he himself is affected. Only the wounded physician heals.” Jung also believed that a malady of the soul was the best possible form of training for a healer.
