Ghadirian A-Missagh
Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada.
Med Law. 2008 Jun;27(2):229-39.
The interrelationship between spirituality and medical science has been looked upon with suspicion for centuries. While in ancient societies medicine and religion were intertwined, in the West separation between these two since the Middle Ages has created a wall of mistrust which undermined the relationship. During the last two decades, however, there has been an upsurge of interest in the role of spirituality in medical practice in North American universities. There are a number of reasons for this development. They include an increasing number of patients particularly those with life threatening or chronic diseases who expect their spiritual concerns to be acknowledged and addressed. Furthermore, the unprecedented increase in medical technology has diminished the need for medical practitioners to provide compassionate care and has raised the awareness of physicians of the danger of dehumanization of medical institutions. Consequently, medical education programmes in a growing number of medical schools have begun to implement courses encouraging the integration of spirituality and medicine.
几个世纪以来，灵性与医学科学之间的相互关系一直受到质疑。在古代社会，医学与宗教相互交织，但自中世纪以来，西方社会这两者之间的分离筑起了一道不信任的壁垒，破坏了两者的关系。然而，在过去二十年里，北美大学对灵性在医疗实践中的作用的兴趣激增。这种发展有多种原因。其中包括越来越多的患者，尤其是那些患有危及生命或慢性疾病的患者，他们期望自己的精神需求能得到认可和解决。此外，医疗技术前所未有的发展减少了从业者提供关怀护理的必要性，也提高了医生对医疗机构非人性化危险的认识。因此，越来越多医学院校的医学教育项目开始开设课程，鼓励将灵性与医学相结合。
