The Absent Healer

The Absent Healer

This paper argues that clinicians can draw on these diverse intellectual traditions to develop more nuanced approaches to patients experiencing spiritual crises, trauma, and existential suffering. Through case examples and theoretical integration, we demonstrate how these frameworks can help clinicians navigate questions of meaning, purpose, and ethical responsibility when working with patients confronting profound suffering. Drawing on original research examining the liminality of the suffering experience, we propose a therapeutic stance that acknowledges the value of witnessing, the generative nature of absence, and the ethical implications of concealment in clinical practice.