Suffering & Death Quiz 1 Flashcards
What are the components associated with Eric Cassell’s definition of suffering? (Wk 1)
- experienced by a person (not just a body)
- threatens the intactness of the person
- depends on the meaning of the event
- may or may not include pain
- medicine intensifies suffering
What are the four roles of nurse as witness? What is meant by witness?
Witness: someone who has an obligation to speak out
Roles:
- Firsthand observation
- Ceremonial (rite of passage)
- Expert witness
- Visionary (collective vision about how to respond to suffering)
Faith and spirituality distinctions
Faith: relationship btw a person and their source of meaning in life
Spirituality:
- a set of beliefs that guides decision-making (and understanding) in life
- what gives life meaning & gives you courage and strength to face challenges
- helps understand one’s place in the universe and provides an emotional foundation
What does Gaudino say the difference between Tilley and Stewart’s definitions are?
Tilley: emphasizes the source of meaning (faith)
Stewart: emphasizes the set of beliefs (spirituality)
What is the emerging Catholic view of God with regard to the diversity of religious traditions?
- individuals can be saved regardless of their belief/baptism
- there is holiness in other religions
- people can be saved through the practice of their own religions and this is part of God’s plan
- seeing God at work in other religions enhances our experience of God
What strategies does Ram Dass say we use to deal with suffering (while keeping it at a distance)? (Wk 2)
- Fixer
- Pity
- Denial
- Professional Warmth
- Abstracting concrete things so we don’t have to deal with them
What is a dispassionate witness and what does it help us to accomplish?
The dispassionate witness is present without attachment to the results.
It allows us to release our reactivity and be fully present with the sufferer.
What does Causton say about being an explorer vs being a detective?
Causton says health care workers tend to act as detectives, allowing them to narrow the focus until there is no more unknown.
While she doesn’t state that this is bad, she states there’s also a place for being an explorer - asking open-ended questions and not being afraid of the unknown that the patient might share with them.
How does Rachel Remen define healing?
She says that healing happens when a person has been ‘seen and heard and validated’ and that it can happen without a cure and without physical recovery.
What are the dangers of labels?
It creates assumptions about others that might be incorrect.
What is protest atheism?
A reaction-based belief against a religion
What is atheism of indifference?
No interest in discussing the topic.
What are the three G’s? What do they refer to?
Grace, Gratitude and Grit: they refer to self-care
What are the threats that lead to burnout?
- things that remind us of the past (countertransference)
- very high expectations
- guilt
- empathy & its emotional cost
- pain that occurs as a result of inflicting pain on others
- shattering of our own beliefs
- silence: hiding our suffering and vulnerability
What are the 4 R’s of Trauma-informed care?
Realization
Recognition
Response
Resist re-traumatization
What are the goals of trauma-informed care?
To help rebuild control, healing, empowerment and resilience.
What does Brene Brown say our two strategies of invulnerability are?
- numbing ourselves
- perfecting ourselves
What does being wounded have to do with being a healer? How is this related to his understanding of Jesus?
A true healer is someone who is also wounded: our woundedness is a major source of our healing power.
Jesus was someone who affiliated himself with people at the fringes of society - the wounded, the outcasts.
What are the two kinds of healing as hospitality?
- Hospitality as concentration: focusing first on self (self-care as well as understanding our darkest corners and learning to be at home in our own house)… so that you can then focus on on the wounded other, providing comfort in knowing that you are both fellow travelers on the road of suffering.
- Hospitality as community: Where we recognize the common experience of others. Knowing that wholeness is not transferred from one person to another, but that shared suffering is a healing presence.
What do faith/values have to do with the wounded healer?
They are an anchor system that allow the healer to move into the world while knowing his/her roots and compass.
What are 5 key principles of a trauma-informed approach?
Safety Trustworthiness & Transparency Choice Collaboration Empowerment
What are the five steps to cultivating compassion with GRACE?
Gathering attention Recalling intention Attuning to self/other Considering Engaging
What does Brene Brown say are the keys to self-care?
- Boundaries (establishing what’s okay and what’s not okay)
- Empathy
- Compassion
What’s the difference between self-esteem and self-compassion?
Self-esteem: directly related to self-worth… relies on feeling above average.
Self-compassion: Accepting yourself as you are, flaws, etc.
List some self-care practices
Meditation Gratitude Time in nature Art Story Telling 3 Gs Humor Prayer Guided imagery
What are the ways in which mental illness creates suffering?
Stigma
Cutting off from symptoms
Other’s reactions
What is the 2-part rejection of the mentally ill?
- societal rejection/stigmatization
- self rejection = loneliness, turmoil.
What are the basic tenets of Camus’s existentialism?
- We can’t understand life’s meaning from the outside - we are swept along by it.
- there is no ultimate meaning in life.
- there is only life itself.
What causes suffering, according to Camus?
Human progress… especially science and technology.
(It objectifies and dehumanizes us, isolates us and enslaves us). They are the source of anxiety for many people rather than the new saviors.
What does Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the mountain represent? What is the question this forces us to ask?
Repetitive tasks that drain us and make us feel less than human.
If life is so meaningless, why shouldn’t we just kill ourselves?
What is Camus’ ultimate message?
Refuse to give in to suffering - live with courage.
What are the four goals of life in Hinduism?
- Pleasure
- Worldly Success
- Duty to community
- Liberation (freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth)
Which two goals of life are on the path of desire (Hinduism)?
Pleasure; Worldly Success
Which two goals of life are on the path of renunciation?
Duty to community; Liberation
What question does one come up against when they begin the path of renunciation (duty to community)?
-what do we really long for?
Answer: infinite being, infinite knowledge and awareness, and infinite bliss and joy.
What are we told about the challenge/possibility of attaining moksha (liberation)?
- our immortal soul is buried under illusion (false assumptions, distractions)
- the role of the yogas is to help us recognize the truth about ourselves and what is really important and eternal.
What are some of the pitfalls of the path of pleasure?
Self-absorption
Injurious behaviors
Impermanence
Inability of pleasure to address suffering
What are some of the pitfalls of worldly success?
- self-absorption
- impermanence
- insatiability
- anxiety over protecting worldly gains
- inability to prevent us from suffering
What causes people to move onto the path of renunciation?
Realizing how ultimately unsatisfying the path of pleasure is.
What are the pitfalls of duty to community?
Impermanent results
Work must be done repeatedly
Cannot protect us from suffering
Liberation incorporates what?
Freedoms from suffering
Oneness with God
What does Hinduism share in common with existentialism?
Human culture distracts us from what is authentic
We must be honest about suffering in this world
