Despite being a predominantly religious country, the spiritual aspect of healing and care in Malta is sometimes connected only to the terminally ill.
But according to Fr Eckhard Frick, who was in Malta earlier this month to deliver a workshop for health professionals on the subject, spiritual care should be spread.
“Spirituality was previously applied only to palliative care, but now it should be applied to situations of crisis, especially when there are transitions in lives,” Fr Frick, who is also a doctor, told The Sunday Times.
In times of suffering, patients and their families often question the meaning behind it. This is not only restricted to religious people, but even atheists question the meaning of life in times of crisis.
Medical professionals should be ready to tackle this issue, Fr Frick pointed out, as health sciences use a broad concept of spirituality, not limited to Christian religion or to spiritual traditions.
An unreligious person may be spiritual because every human being is touched by transcendence and questions the meaning of life and absurdity of suffering.
“Human suffering is always total pain – psychosocial, spiritual and physical,” he said.
Understanding human suffering in a holistic sense should broaden the remit of healthcare, and although in most this would trigger the thought of chaplains pacing hospital corridors, it was not the essence of such care, he explained.
“Spiritual care is not just the chaplains’ job; it’s a task for health professionals. Chaplains may be important in a team but it should not be delegated to them,” said Fr Frick.
Professionals should be competent in diagnosing a patient’s spiritual need, and then discuss with them how best to address this problem. Different people may need different support structures. Professionals should not try to influence their patients, but respect what they are aiming for.
“It is very individual, because everybody has to address this meaning, which very often is lack of meaning. It is despair,” he said.
When asked for an example of spiritual care, Fr Frick spoke of his friend, a 50-year-old physician diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He knows his condition will not be cured. “He has a family of two children and the question of meaning is now really central,” he said. His spiritual care helps him address the limitations of life and he wants to be accompanied in this process, Fr Frick said.