The Source of Life: Meditation and Spirituality in Healthcare for a Comprehensive Approach to The COVID-19 Syndemic.
Guidalberto Bormolini, Annagiulia Ghinassi, Cecilia Pagni, Simona Milanese, Maria Martin De Ponzuelo
Pastoral Psychology March 15, 2022 DOI: 10.1007/s11089-022-01000-8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Spiritual accompaniment |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Argues that spiritual accompaniment, centered on meditation and part of a historic tradition, is a valid therapeutic tool for individuals with life-threatening diseases, and that extending it via telematic assistance to COVID-19 patients in 2020 yielded very positive results. |
Abstract
The COVID-19 syndemic has raised many unanswered questions about the most important values in human life. It has revealed the limits of looking at mere survival and ignoring closeness, spirituality, and "connectedness". Spiritual accompaniment, in contrast, is a valid therapeutic tool for individuals suffering from life-threatening diseases, allowing a real recovery of the transcendent dimension of existence which retrieves one's relationship with the mystery, and reintegrates illness and death within one's horizon of thought. According to this vision, in the field of healthcare, people experienced in spiritual accompaniment may support patients through their disease journey by strengthening their resilience; this was extended in 2020 with telematic assistance, to patients with COVID-19, with very positive results. This gave impetus to the project to rebuild a rural village, suitable for pursuing the principles of green therapy (also known as echotherapy) in order to host patients in various stages of life-threatening illness who wish to deepen their spiritual search by receiving expert, non-confessional spiritual accompaniment, by living side by side with families and resident monks; there will also be a hospice oriented towards spiritual assistance, to accommodate patients in advanced stages of illness. The spiritual accompaniment proposed here is centered on meditation and is part of a historic tradition, although it is promoted with language adapted to the modern era. This has for decades helped many people following this path.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 5
- Mindfulness meditation–based pain relief: a mechanistic account Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences June 1, 2016
- Mindfulness-Based stress reduction in early palliative care for people with metastatic cancer: A mixed-method study. Complementary Therapies in Medicine December 1, 2019
- Reduced stress and inflammatory responsiveness in experienced meditators compared to a matched healthy control group. Psychoneuroendocrinology June 2016
- Migraines and meditation: does spirituality matter? Journal of Behavioral Medicine August 2008
- Is spirituality a critical ingredient of meditation? Comparing the effects of spiritual meditation, secular meditation, and relaxation on spiritual, psychological, cardiac, and pain outcomes. Journal of Behavioral Medicine August 2005