23 Tevet, 5775
Emotions tend to rocket all around our hearts and minds when we face the medical and/or emotional/mental health news that nobody wants to hear.
I've addressed the cruelty of spiritual one-upsmanship before. That's when people tell us we have no right to cry or to feel fearful because "GOD only gives us what we can handle."
I've also addressed ideal responses to such heartlessness.
What I've never addressed on this blog, or in
is the medical practitioner's difficulty
in delivering bad news.
I've thought about it a lot. Years later, I struggle to recall the exact words of the neurosurgeon who first gave me hope that I'd live past the problem that other medical professionals had caused by failing to address that long-ago (now gone!) meningioma.
I definitely remember, though, the choices I made about how to behave under the dire circumstances. The prognosis for my surgical outcome was not good, to say the least.
The bigger problem remains though. How can anyone compassionately inform a person of their pending death or dire diagnosis?
Life experience and psychological teachings indicate that starting gently, slowly, and allowing the listener to make necessary connections as the speaker continues to state facts, is one approach.
Promoting optimism, an embrace of the situation, and thereby empowering the affected person(s) to decide how they'll deal with the situation is another way to face dire situations.
There is room for so much more compassionate behavior under the worst of circumstances.
Let's look at the
How do you tell someone they’re dying?
question together.
I recommend that you click on the links at that site, and keep reading.
I welcome your responses to the essays.
Strengthen yourself, your loved ones, and your medical team. Share the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.
Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill in the blanks of your emotional life, or someone else's, with compassion.
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