Original Research

Spirituality and health: A narrativepastoral approach

C.J. Truter, D.J. Kotzé
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 61, No 3 | a460 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v61i3.460 | © 2005 C.J. Truter, D.J. Kotzé | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 12 October 2005 | Published: 12 October 2005

About the author(s)

C.J. Truter, University of South Africa, South Africa
D.J. Kotzé, Unversity of South Africa, South Africa

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Abstract

Health is much more than the absence of illness; it is rather a “high level wellness” and a life with “meaningful life-possibilities”. This article indicates how meaningful life-possibilities and a high level of wellness can be socially constructed within a process of narrativepastoral therapy for a patient who is chronically ill and therefore cannot be cured. Pastoral care as a spiritual and religious act can play an important role in giving sense and meaning to people’s lives, and can play a preventive role in living with illness. This article furthermore shows how patients’ stories of illness can be centralised by means of narrative therapy and how a pastoral and ethical attitude of love and respect can create a climate conducive to better health and well being. We share how patients’ richer descriptions of their illness can produce a spiritual climate which can contribute to their better health.

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