"A wholeness that grows out of that which is lacking": Providing palliative care to patients with anorexia nervosa

"A wholeness that grows out of that which is lacking": Providing palliative care to patients with anorexia nervosa
Psychiatric Times; by Rabbanit Allissa Thomas-Newborn, BCC; 6/13/24
Sitting with the patient, I brought in a nesting doll, separating each doll and lifting the layers of self that surrounded the smallest version of herself within. We spoke about layers. Layers and walls we put up to protect ourselves. Layers that hide the things we are afraid for anyone—worst of all, ourselves—to see. Layers that embrace and comfort and hold us together. ... With the fullness of the nesting doll displayed, we gave witness to her story together. ... To see ourselves as stories of wholeness growing out of that which is lacking requires that we accept what is lacking without judgment. We do not need to fix or fill whatever is lacking, or to pretend it is not there. It is there and may always be there. And there is a wholeness that can still grow. 
Editor's Note: Rabbanit Thomas-Newborn is a board-certified chaplain at New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. She specializes in Behavioral Health, Palliative Care, and Critical Care chaplaincy. She is the president of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains.