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Psycho-oncology: Searching for practical wisdom?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Helen Butlin
Helen Butlin*
Affiliation:
London Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, Canada
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Helen Butlin, Specialist in Spiritual Care (Canadian Association of Spiritual Care), London Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre, 790 Commissioners Road East, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 4L6. E-Mail: hbutlinb@uwo.ca
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Abstract

The debate is vigorous in psycho-oncology about whether spiritual, existential, and psychosocial are the most comprehensive terms for academic research discourses investigating meaning and purpose. A call-to-action email from the International Society of Psycho-Oncology included the term soul. The current essay highlights the historical and contemporary uses of “soul” to suggest that the re-emergent soul signifies a tacit quest for an “intangible” that seems missing in current constructs of clinical domains reflected in the vigor of the debates. It is suggested that the re-emergence of the pre-Medieval meaning(s) of the notion of soul affirms a growing need for integrative paradigms on “being human” to guide psycho-oncology practitioners and their research. As a paradigmatic example, a clinical support group entitled Soul Medicine is described as employing the term soul to open up the more marginal discourses about experiences of illness arising from philosophical reflection, arts, humanities, and spirituality within a clinical oncology context. A link between soul and wisdom is suggested for further exploration with the view that phronesis (“the virtue of practical wisdom”), an emerging concept in health professional education research, is of ultimate value to the people psycho-oncology seeks to serve. This group holds that garnering wisdom from the expertise of those living with cancer should be a central aim of our field.

Type
Essay/Personal Reflections
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 13 , Issue 5 , October 2015 , pp. 1495 - 1500
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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