Faith Diversity

A caregiver will encounter a wider variety of different individuals that are placed under their care over the course of their career.  One such area that the patients will differ from each other, and the caregiver as well, is in their practices of faith and spirituality.  For the caregiver to give appropriate treatment to their patient, it is important to understand some of the baseline differences and assumptions that individuals of different faiths make about the process of healing.  This premise is incorporated in healing hospitals. Different faiths have quite different notions of how diseases are contracted and manifest themselves and the appropriate means for treating those types of diseases.  What are an acceptable means of fighting a particular disease for one individual’s faith can be completely different for someone of a different faith?  Such is the case for the religions of Buddhism, Shinto, and Native American faiths when compared to the more traditional healing perspectives of those that follow the Christian faith.  To properly provide an environment where the healing process can be the most effective, the caregiver must be able to identify and address the key areas of these different faiths in order to provide the patient with the best spiritual and emotional means for the healing process to occur.

From a Buddhist perspective, the cause of the disease can be broadly separated into two distinct categories.  Buddhism views diseases as being either of the body or of the mind (Paonil & Springernyuang, 2002).  Whichever classification a disease can be placed within will have a direct determination upon the means by which the Buddhist will seek out treatment for the particular disease.  For diseases of the mind, the most basic form of treatment for a Buddhist is to continue to follow the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the ultimate means of arriving at the Buddhist’s notion of a higher order of living (Paonil & Springernyuang, 2002).  By following this path, the individual will rid themselves of concepts of greed, desire, longing, and so on, all of which are the root of many of the Buddhist’s concept of diseases of the mind.  In terms of disease of the body, the general practice to prevent such matters is for the Buddhist is to, “take care for their bodies in a proper way” (Paonil & Springernyuang, 2002).  Buddhism is a very open faith, however, in that it will allow for the use of outside medicine and the bending of its spiritual rules for those that are sick.  The only real limitation that Buddhism places upon medical practices are that the use of medicines for anything outside of their original intent is strictly forbidden (Paonil & Springernyuang, 2002).  For these reasons, a caregiver that has a Buddhist patient should remember that individuals of this faith would want the most simple and direct manners of treatment without the use of mixing drugs to get desired results.  The Buddhist will be much more responsive and appreciative if they can keep to their religious principles, but the caregiver can remind them that Buddha did make special note that ill or incapacitated individuals could temporarily disregard the rules in order to regain bodily health.

As a more traditional faith, those that follow the Shinto practices of early Japanese society will have a much more spiritual take on healing that must be understood and addressed by the caregiver.  This is not to say that practices of this faith do not understand and accept the reality of germs in the contraction and spread of disease but is a claim that the notions of spirits play a large role in power of the immune system that fights off and prevents disease (Kalland, 1991).  Though spirits can be either good or evil, the evil ones are known to “work in order to weaken the immune system so that germs and other harmful agents can break through and cause diseases” (Kalland, 1991, para. 10).  To properly being the healing process for the followers of this faith, it is important to cleanse the body of the evil spirits that are weakening the immune system in order to give the body the best way possible to defeat any plaguing illness.  There are two spiritual processes that are important to the healing process of the followers of this faith: the rituals of diagnosis and curing.  Diagnosis rituals help in identifying the evil spirit that is harming the individual and help to select a means of destroying it (Kalland, 1991).  The curing rituals are more about physical practices to rid the body of such spirits such as, “shaking rattles, beating drums, flipping through prayer books” (Kalland, 1991, para. 30).  For the caregiver with a patient that follows this faith, it is important to understand and realize the importance that this spiritual cleansing has on the patient’s psyche.  Unlike Christian practices that may place emphasis on simple prayer and, relatively, quiet rituals, the Shinto patients may want elaborate spiritual practices to be carried out and should be accommodated to the best of the caregiver's ability.  

With a clear spiritual component to their healing practices, those of the many different Native American faiths can be the most difficult to accommodate and care for for the caregiver.  Though there are many different Native American tribes, all of which practice their own unique forms of faith and spirituality, there are some linking elements that are seen in the healing practices that form the spiritual backbone of the Native Americans health perspective.  These practices can include the purification of the body through ointments, plant and herbal medicine, herbal drinks, sacred plant’s smoke, sweat lodges, or other concoctions, and include spiritual rituals such as chants, community involvement, dances, exorcisms, body paintings, or singing (American Cancer Society, 2008).  The issue with the Native American practices comes from that fact that they are kept secretive to only those within their tribe and are not fully understood by any of those who are not affiliated with them.  For a caregiver, this poses a unique challenge.  The caregiver must know what the patient is doing to their body in order to provide the best possible care, such as with the herbal remedies that the patient may be ingesting.  The caregiver does not want to prescribe a drug that may adversely react to something that the patient is taking on in their herbal remedies that could serious injury, or even kill, their patient.  However, it is also extremely important that the individual is placed within the best possible mental state in order to combat the disease they are fighting.  For followers of these faiths, it is, therefore, of the utmost importance to allow the practices that are necessary for their spiritual side but to limit the practices that could cause serious medical complications.  By explaining this to the patient, the caregiver shows their concern for the patient’s well being.  

Spirituality plays an important role in the healing process for almost all patients.  Further study on the effect of spirituality on the healing process and the scientific connections between the two should be further examined and researched to find credibility between the two.  “If spiritual healing could be quantitatively described and validated it has the potential to become a more credible component within the health care system” (Linendoll, 2001).  However, as it currently stands, the link has yet to be discovered and a caregiver can only act upon what is known to have the best effect on treating their patients.  Until a link is potentially discovered, the patient’s health must be first and foremost addressed in a physical sense.

For a caregiver dealing with an individual that practices a faith that has different customs and practices than those that the caregiver themselves has, it is important to be understanding and accepting of the different spiritual health perspectives.  Some patients that follow faiths such as Buddhism will be quite receptive to modern medical practices and, for the most part, will accept the suppression of their spirituality in the immediate future in order to regain bodily health.  However, other faiths such as Shinto and Native American faiths will place a great deal of emphasis on the spiritual side of the healing process and will follow elaborate rituals.  For these sorts of cases, the caregiver must remember that the patient’s emotional health is an important process of healing and treatment, but that the physical side is currently the most important.  Patient’s spiritual needs can be accommodated and met when possible, but the caregiver cannot sacrifice important medical practices in the name of faith and spirituality.       

References

American Cancer Society. (2008, Nov 01). Native American healing. American Cancer Society, Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/native-american-healing

Kalland, A. (1991). Facing the spirits: Illness and healing in a Japanese community. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. Retrieved from http://www.folklore.ee/rl/pubte/ee/usund/ingl/kalland.html

Linendoll, N. (2001, Nov 14). What is spiritual healing? A theological analysis. Theology I, Retrieved from http://sws.bu.edu/wwildman/courses/theo1/projects/2001_linnendoll/index.htm

Paonil, W., & Sringernyuang, L. (2002). Buddhist perspectives on health and healing. The Chulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies, 1(2), Retrieved from http://www.stc.arts.chula.ac.th/CJBS/Buddhist Perspectives on Health and Healing.pdf