Introduction

The term ‘spiritual’ derives from the Latin ‘spiritus’, meaning ‘essence of life’ or ‘vital breath’. The term ‘spiritual’ is used to describe those aspects of human life that are linked to experiences that transcend sensory phenomena. In this way, the spiritual is distinguished from the religious, which derives from the Latin ‘religare’, meaning that which attaches or links human beings to the divine.                

Religion and spirituality differ from one community to another, and often even from one individual to another; this justifies distancing these entities from the progress of modern medicine, which claims to be valid for all communities and all beliefs.

Medicine, an exact science, a science of the ‘measurable’:

Since ancient times, the art of curing psychiatric illness has been interwoven with knowledge of the soul, or the spiritual aspect of the human being. This is reflected in the Platonic point of view expressed in The Charmides, which maintains that one cannot undertake to heal the eyes without treating the head, nor the head without treating the whole body, nor can one heal the body without treating the soul. That said, the soul is the source of all good and evil for the body and for the whole of man. Everything comes from this elusive and unmeasurable entity. Far from the time and the words of the most notable disciple of the father of philosophy, Socrates, medicine would make major advances specifically at the end of the Middle Ages and during the Enlightenment. By the beginning of the twentieth century, vaccines had been discovered and were being used to prevent diseases such as tuberculosis, nicknamed the white plague, which had caused so much devastation and was the source of much speculation, one of which was the assumption that it could be cured by kissing the hand of the king. In addition to tuberculosis, many other diseases were eradicated, as were the prejudices associated with them. More than ever, the development of medicine, like any other exact science, involved observation, experimentation and analysis. This meant considering man as a ‘machine’ that needed to be removed from all prejudices and all non-measurable entities such as the soul in order to carry out accurate studies. 

Acceptance of illness, the first step towards healing:

The development of medicine has made it possible to understand and develop therapeutic strategies for a multitude of illnesses. Some of them have been eradicated, having been considered ‘divine punishments on earth’. This makes man’s responsibility in the face of disease all the greater. As a result, the non-acceptance or denial of illness has become commonplace, especially in the field of psychiatry, to the point of exposing the limits of the consideration of man as a ‘machine’. On the one hand, this denial is a source of great suffering; on the other hand, it is a real obstacle to optimal care, because it causes delays in diagnosis and non-cooperation in therapeutic follow-up. Recognising this, a number of experts in the field are increasingly opting for therapy with a spiritual dimension. This approach helps patients to perceive illness through the lens of religion, in which illness is often seen not as a weakness but rather as a source of atonement. The result of this approach is to facilitate acceptance of the illness as well as other therapeutic approaches leading to recovery.

Conclusion

In the course of its evolution, medical science has moved a long way away from prejudice and any other invisible, intangible entity such as the soul. Despite the particularly convincing results of this approach, it is increasingly noted that the soul is used in serious or psychiatric pathologies to develop ‘resilience’ in the face of illness. The aim of using the ‘spiritual’ in the treatment of certain serious illnesses or psychiatric conditions is to build ‘resilience’ in order to facilitate the therapeutic process, rather than transforming ourselves into modern ‘gurus’.