In Why Don’t I Feel Hope? I talk about hopelessness as a physical problem. If changes in the brain block the proper firing of brain cells needed to experience hope, willpower and/or spiritual faith may not be enough (just as a severed spinal cord makes it impossible to move the legs)—no matter how much patients want to feel hope.
Read moreWhy Don't I Feel Hope?
A patient knew there is hope—a real possibility of a good outcome. That patient wanted to feel hope but didn’t. What could he do?
Read moreNew Year's Resolution
While others are making (and breaking) New Year’s resolutions, I’m experimenting with a new tack:
Read moreWhy Realistic Hopes are Healing
You could argue that false hope makes patients feel good and stirs the same placebo effect as realistic hope. Those are both healing benefits. Why my insistence that Healthy Survivors nourish realistic hope?
Read moreHope that Works
"...hope, to provide what it can and should, needs to be tied to reality." That's the line that prompted me to share
Read moreDisease and Uncertainty
n "When Do You Give Up on Treating a Child" Esther Levy concludes, "'There are only two states after such a diagnosis: disease and uncertainty." Both sound terrible.
Read moreHope and the Desire for Certainty
My blog posts on The Riddle of Hope hint at the complexity of hope. To address hope and the desire for certainty, let's explore further the story of Esther and Dan Levy, parents who gave up hope of their son's recovery (When Do You Give Up on Treating a Child).
Read moreA new home for my blog on Healthy Survivorship
Since January 2008, this blog has provided a place where patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, administrators, policymakers and anyone else interested in modern healthcare can come together to discuss how to help patients become Healthy Survivors--namely, survivors who get good care and live as fully as possible.
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