Healing love: Eros awakening the soul of medicine

From the depth psychological perspective, modern Western medicine has suffered from a loss of eros/love, which has left it rather dehumanized and impersonal. Founded and practiced one-sidedly on positivist science, it is severed from its roots in a mythology that includes the healing power of love in all its mystery; thus it too often falls short of its full capacity to serve the patients who seek its care. Modern scientific medicine is in crisis, and many people are seeking alternative approaches to healthcare that include eros and psyche--where the power of love can be felt and bring healing in a soulful way, whether or not it brings a cure.;It has been forgotten in modern times that Eros has a natural home in medicine. The reductionist mindset of Western culture has wounded Eros and thus diminished our ways of understanding the healing power of love. Using an organic research method, this qualitative study addresses a split between science and love in Western medicine, seeking a better understanding of the role of Eros/love in contemporary medical practice. Stories about love and medicine were sought from five Western trained physicians through a Compassionate Conversational Inquiry, a creative methodology founded on conversational learning that draws upon the heuristic and feminist approaches to research inherent in an organic study. A five-phase qualitative process was employed for gathering and analyzing storied data with five Western physician co-researchers, and from an unanticipated trip to a healing sanctuary in Brazil.;Conversational data revealed the importance of eros/love in contemporary medicine, and showed that Eros can serve as a model for understanding love and its relevance in the practice of medicine. Storied data suggested that eros/love is healing love, expressed in a multitude of ways, including a physician's caring and investment of self in the physician-patient relationship. The fact that expressions of eros/love directly related to patient outcomes has implications for physician education and training. Research conclusions support the emerging conversation between depth psychology and modern medicine, highlighting the importance of depth psychology in medicine's current crisis and in bridging the split between science and love.