Spiritual Needs of Patients with Chronic Pain Diseases

Abstract

Chronic pain diseases affect different aspects of a patient’s life, and not all aspects can effectively be treated. In order to cope with the negative experiences, several patients also rely on their spirituality as a resource. While it is a resource on the one hand, spiritual struggles and the perception of being abandoned by God may aggravate the total pain experience. Patients with chronic pain condition have a similar pattern of unmet spiritual needs like other patients with chronic diseases. Addressing these needs is the signal that talking about their fears, worries, and unmet needs is possible. Optimal pain management, psychological support, and spiritual care interventions are seen as core elements of a comprehensive and patient-centered treatment of patients who have experienced the limitations of modern medicine, as their pain is still a chronic condition that affects different areas of life. According to the concept of total pain, an optimal treatment addresses the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of pain, which may all interact, and thus one cannot ignore to ask about patients’ spiritual needs.