ABSTRACT
This chapter uses psalm creatively as 'spiritual coping tools' for patients and families dealing with illness, by inviting personal reflection and shared expression. The goal is to provide comfort, broaden perspectives on illness, and stimulate inspiration toward a Higher Power or community connection. Illness is a universal experience that affects the body, mind, and spirit, presenting a challenge on physical, emotional, social, and spiritual levels. A family affair that touches everyone, whether as patient, family member, caregiver, or health care professional, illness often causes a narrowing of experience, evoking a range of difficult emotions and troubling spiritual questions. Psalms or traditional religious materials should be offered in a setting that provides a contract or consensual understanding to include spirituality in the interventions. Psalms are just one of the traditional textual materials available to use in gaining a broader perspective on one's situation.
