Since ancient times, wisdom has been a topic of interest in philosophy, religion, education, and cultural contexts. For about half a century, it has also become a research field in psychology and gerontology, focusing on psychosocial developmental processes and aging well. In recent years, studies have explored how to teach wisdom and how to use wisdom in psychotherapy.

Although a uniform definition of wisdom does not exist, it is generally agreed that wisdom is a multidimensional construct and psychological capacity that helps individuals to live good lives by coping successfully with stressful and difficult life situations and making wise decisions grounded in morality to foster eudaimonia.

Medicine is a field that requires wisdom to cope with stressful and difficult demands. Patients need to accept their illness, decide what treatment they prefer, tolerate these treatments, trust in therapists, help their loved ones to cope with the physical and mental demands of caregiving, and ultimately deal with end-of-life issues. Physicians and nurses work in teams to take care of sick and dying patients, interact with patients and their loved ones, make difficult decisions under conditions of uncertainty, and often work overtime, which makes it challenging to have a satisfactory private life. These dilemmas, stressful situations, and expectations from multiple stakeholders require wisdom to master life, illness, and the job successfully, avoid burnout and despair, and flourish despite adverse circumstances.

This special issue seeks submissions of empirical and theoretical papers on wisdom in the context of medicine broadly defined. Researchers in medicine, nursing, psychiatry, gerontology, psychology, sociology, social work, philosophy, religion, health care administration, and patient advocacy are welcome to submit papers for this special issue.