Mortally Wounded: Stories of Soul Pain, Death, and Healing
Hospice medical director Kearney presents his views of the healing process in the context of the stories of 10 patients, so general concepts and processes are brought to bear on concrete situations. He defines his conceptsoul painas "the experience of an individual who has become disconnected and alienated from the deepest and most fundamental aspects of himself or herself" and says good palliative care is a prerequisite before healing from this pain can be attempted. Kearney has learned from his mistakes with this process, as he shows by relating how he and each patient grew in understanding of themselves and one another. He discovered that healer and patient do not always progress at the same rate and that healers must not only adjust their approaches but also determine whose pain they are trying to alleviate. As for his successes, many have come because of his use of image work, in which the patient is placed in an imaginary setting and chooses where and how to move onward.William Beatty--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.