Philosophical health: Unveiling the patient's personal philosophy with a person‐centred method of dialogue

Abstract

Grounded in ideas about sense‐making and whole‐person care with a long intellectual heritage, the movement for Philosophical Health—with its specific conceptions of philosophical care and counselling—is a relatively recent addition to the ongoing debate about understanding better the perspectives of patients to improve health practice. This article locates the development of this movement within the context of broader discussions of person‐centred care (PCC), arguing that the approach advocated by defenders of philosophical health can provide a straightforward method for implementing PCC in actual cases. This claim is explained and defended with reference to the SMILE_PH method created by Luis de Miranda (Sense‐Making Interviews Looking at Elements of Philosophical Health), an approach recently trialled convincingly with people living with traumatic spinal cord injury.

Editorial for the 2023 philosophy thematic edition: Treating the whole person: Philosophical health

“…21 This section opens with de Miranda's and Loughlin's proposal for a person-centred method of dialogue allowing us to unveil or codefine the patient's personal philosophy by using de Miranda's SMILE_PH method (Sense-Making Interviews Looking at Elements of Philosophical Health). 37 The implementation of such a method would allow us to make better decisions, based on factors different from mere technocratic efficiency, for example, the patient's sense of purpose. Matt Sharpe and Rob Nolan remind us that, in the ancient world, philosophy was not pursued as a merely abstract, cognitive endeavour, aiming at esoteric theoryconstruction, but rather the disciplines of philosophy and medicine intersected.…”