Spirituality/Medicine Interface Project

Spirituality, OCD, and Life-threatening Illness

Authors: Michael Miovic, MD

Abstract

Primary care physicians are taking an increasing interest in both the mental health and spiritual needs of patients as part of medical treatment. Dealing with spiritual distress has long been central to palliative care,1 which recently became recognized as a board-certified subspecialty (via the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine). The following case study illustrates how to approach spiritual concerns mixed with lifelong obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in the context of a life-threatening illness.

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