Mortally Wounded: Stories of Soul Pain, Death, and Healing - Softcover

Kearney, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1882670795 ISBN 13: 9781882670796

Publisher: Spring Journal, Inc, 2007

Synopsis

What makes for a good death? In Mortally Wounded, a bestseller in Ireland, where it was first published, Dr. Michael Kearney reflects on his personal experiences working with the dying and shows us that it is possible to learn to die well. Starting from the premise that our fear of death is as much a cultural construct as an ancient fear of the dark, Kearney moves into the area in which it is possible to die well or "in one piece, psychologically speaking." Exploring some of the same territory as James Hillman and Thomas Moore, Kearney emphasizes the importance of going downward into soul, where we can find the elements of psychological wholeness, a healing balm to be applied to our mortal wound. Sensitive, intelligent, and brutally honest, Kearney opens a window on our darkest, most difficult subject, and lets some light in.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Kearney, M.D., has over 25 years of working as a physician in end-of-life care. He is currently Medical Director of the Palliative Care Service at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and Associate Medical Director at Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care. He also acts as medical director to the Anam Cara Project for Compassionate Companionship in Life and Death in Bend, Oregon. Other publications by Dr. Kearney include A Place of Healing: Working with Suffering in Living and Dying and Spiritual Care of the Dying Patient, (co-authored with Balfour Mount, M.D.), in Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine (eds. Harvey Max Chochinov and William Breitbart).

From Kirkus Reviews:

Through somber stories, a hospice physician shares his experiences of working with people near death, revealing how the dying process can be a time of personal growth. Kearney, medical director of palliative care at Our Lady's Hospice in Dublin, Ireland, argues that the terror of death stems from a split between the rational and intuitive minds. When an individual becomes alienated from his deepest and most fundamental aspect, he says, the result is soul pain. In a series of stories about dying patients, he illustrates how soul pain is manifested and how, using such psychotherapeutic tools as guided imagery, dream work, and prayer, he sometimes is able to relieve that pain. Two models, one mythological and one psychological, provide Kearney's framework. The first is the story of Chiron, a wounded healer in Greek mythology who willingly descended into the underworld of death before achieving immortality in the heavens. The second is a Jungian model, positing that the ego of the surface mind fears and mistrusts the deep mind, or underworld, of the self. As they make their journey toward death, some patients find their own way through soul pain to acceptance and equanimity; many, however, experience overwhelming fear and suffering. Kearney, who stresses that palliative care is always the first step in what he calls ``depth work,'' describes his successes and failures in helping these patients get in touch with their deepest feelings and experience inner transformations that bring them comfort and peace. This is not light reading. All of Kearney's patients have terminal illnesses; there are no miracles and no happy endings--unless a good death can be viewed as one. For those concerned about the growing strength of the assisted-suicide movement, Kearney's approach provides a welcome antidote to that of Dr. Kevorkian. For those curious about the hospice movement, this is a forceful introduction. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Spring Journal, Inc
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1882670795
• ISBN 13: 9781882670796
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 157