Une nouvelle approche de la souffrance globale de personnes en fin de vie

This essay does not present a philosophical reflection or scientific evidence in the field of social sciences but rather relates personal experience. The goal is to better understand common experience and clarify the search for the significance of the “spiritual dimension” in a lay society. The new approach proposed is a passage from the four dimensional definition of overall suffering established by Cicely Saunders to a three dimensional definition (physiology, psychology, social) called “existential suffering”, which is common to all human beings, whether linked or not to a “religious suffering” or a “metaphysical suffering”, which is specific to those who belong to a religious or philosophical denomination, each one of those sufferings having its own autonomy to be recognized and respected.