The Patient with Overestimated Faith, Expecting for a Miraculous Healing - Approaches from the Physician

Research from last three decades concluded that religious-spiritual beliefs and practices are significantly associated to better physical and mental health parameters. Religiosity and spirituality are important resources for coping with challenges of life, such as serious diseases and end-of life processes. Patient and his/her family may use their religious beliefs to reframe the distressing moment of these utmost situations. At such context, they are not necessarily wrong to hope for a miraculous healing. Problems arise for the physician-patient relationship if this attitude is a denial behavior, disguised as hope. Intervention from the clinical staff is needed if the belief is a source of distress or if it is motive for hazards, such as treatment abandonment. For the physician facing such situation, some attitudes are suggested in medical literature, aiming to mitigate possible impacts over clinical decisions. The present paper explores the nature of this problem, starting from the general relation between religiosity and health. The religious coping is then analyzed both on its positive form (which fosters meaning and purpose) and negative form (spiritual distress, religious struggle). The very concept of miracles in medicine is discussed, alongside with previous objective forms of documentation. The paper finishes with some guidelines for the physician to evaluate and to approach the situation where a unrealistic expectation confronts the clinical treatment.