Body and soul in mental health care

Abstract

Mental health care literature promotes the concept of holistic care and urges practitioners, especially nurses to address the spirituality of their patients and clients. In this holistic pursuit, the body is often marginalised when thinking about spirituality. However, the body is capable of being spiritual as this model of the person from early Christian theology suggests. This model of the person describes a three aspect approach, the person consisting of soul (which contains the mind), spirit and body. All three aspects are connected in a constant dynamic cycle. Thus that which affects the body can also affect the spirit and the soul. Seeing the person through the lens of this model could open the way for a more accessible model of spiritual care for mental health practitioners which suggests that physical touch and a better quality of relationship can affect the spirit in the same way as talk.

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