Spiritual Support

Spiritual Support

Spiritual support, part of hospice and palliative care, may help people cope better with the hard, spiritual questions that come up at the end of life. Spiritual support is not the same for everyone. To be most effective, it should match a person’s beliefs. Learn more about spiritual support.

What is Spiritual Support?
Spiritual support is typically the work of hospital chaplains, who work with local religious and spiritual leaders to help provide spiritual support for patients near the end of their lives. The goal is to help the person feel peace and comfort.

There are as many kinds of spiritual support as there are kinds of spirituality. People have different ideas about the afterlife, death, miracles, or other topics. It’s important to find the right spiritual support strategy that matches each person’s ideas about life.

Diagnosis of serious illness may cause someone a loss of faith or hope. Spiritual distress can lead to other conditions, including:

• Anxiety or depression
• Sense of isolation
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Higher blood pressure
• Loss of inner peace
• A hard time dealing with illness symptoms

Spiritual support can help deal with and prevent these issues.