The Synergy of Mind Body and Spirit

Mariette Danilo, PhD

St. John Vianney Center

Downingtown, Pa. 19335

Archdiocese of Philadelphia April 30, 2019

The Tao of Bruce Springsteen

The Tao of Bruce Springsteen

As we get older:

Depression set in:

What can you control?

No more risk taking

No more White pages: when there’s a white page in front of you-YOU can

write the story and take risks

CAN WE WRITE OUR OWN STORY?

Can you rewrite?

Psychological Theories for Understanding Human Development: What’s Useful?

OPERANT CONDITIONING: B.F. Skinnerstimulus-response

Albert Bandura: Observational Learning

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY: Albert Bandura

• In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviorist learning theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:

• Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.

• Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY: Albert Bandura

LIFE MAY NOW BECOME A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY:

What are the implications of

this for Us??

Physician Heal Thyself: Human Formation

Loving and Understanding Yourself

What is Emotional Intelligence?

SELF- AWARENESSSELF REGULATION SOCIAL AWARENESSSOCIAL SKILLS

Self-AwarenessEmotional self-awareness

Accurately assessing one’s own feelings

“TRIGGERS”… WHAT ARE YOURS?

•Being “ordered”, being ignored, disrespect, “types” of people, etc.

First things first…

How important is SELF AWARENESS?

“We cannot become ourselves unless we know

ourselves”

-Thomas Merton

“… Limit your quest to yourself alone. In you

lies the combat you are going to engage, within yourself the structure of evil and sin to pull down; your enemy emerges from the depths of your heart. It is not I who say this but Christ.”

Origen of Alexandria (c.185-253)

Priest and Theologian

Homilies on Joshua, no. 5 (SC 71)

Unfinished business and templatesRelentless Conditioning

Walter Mischel: Marshmellow Study

Self RegulationDelay of gratification4 & 5 year olds“used strategies”

THE PAIN OF DISCIPLINE VS. THE PAIN OF REGRET

THE PAIN OF DISCIPLINE VS. THE PAIN OF REGRET

THE PAIN OF DISCIPLINE VS. THE PAIN OF REGRET

changing how we feel by changing how we think

Toddler Tantrums: “Use words!”

Distorted Lenses

Romans 7:15

“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what

I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate”

The Effects of Original Sin

INTRODUCING DISORDER:The Garden of Eden

PERSON AGAINST PERSON

PERSON AGAINST SELF

PERSON AGAINST GOD

What can we control?

Clear Your Lens

CHOOSE YOUR LENS

Can I choose my Lens?

The Spiritual…what we believe in heart and mind

Religion as a Protective Factor

Cornell Medical hospital-New York Hospital

Findings in every major research group in the USA

Religiosity IS a protective factor and is predictive of lower rates of problem

behaviors

Religion as a Protective Factor

Freud had it wrong, so did the Academics who claimed Religion produced guilt, repressed sexuality, and was anti-intellectual and intolerant.

Beginning in about the mid-eighties the data on the positive effects of faith started to provide a strong countervailing force.

“Religious Americans are:

Less likely to use drugs, commit crimes, divorce, and kill themselves. They are also physically healthy and live longer. Religious mothers of children with disabilities fight depression better, and religious people are less thrown by divorce, unemployment, illness, and death.”

Martin Seligman, University of Pennsylvania”

Religion as a Protective Factor

“Survey data consistently show religious people as being somewhat happier and more satisfied with life than nonreligious people”…

“But there is, I believe, a more basic link: Religions instill hope for the future and create meaning in life….

The relation of hope for the future and religious faith is probably the cornerstone of why faith so effectively fights despair and increases happiness.”

Martin Seligman, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

A huge literature shows that religious belief, religious practice, spirituality, and being prayed for, can maintain good health:

DECREASES THE INCIDENCE OF DISEASE

DECREASES THE MORTALITY RATES CAUSED BY DISEASE

ACCELERATES RECOVERY FROM DISEASE

PUT THESE ALL TOGETHER AND YOU HAVE AN EXTENDED LIFE SPAN

Carl ThoresenStanford University

Found that regular attendance at religious services is reasonably predictive of a decreased mortality rate and of a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and depression

However, he also found that religiosity doesn’t predict very much about cancer progression, cancer mortality rates, medical disability, and speed of recovery from an illness.

Richard Sloan (Columbia University) AND Carl Thoreson(Stanford) Agree on the following:

THERE’S SUGGESTIVE BUT NOT DEFINITIVE EVIDENCE THAT RELIGIOSITY, IN AND OF ITSELF,

IMPROVES HEALTH, BUT THE EFFECTS ARE PRETTY LIMITED , AND THEY’RE MORE ABOUT HEALTHY PEOPLE STAYING HEALTHY THAN SICK

PEOPLE STAYING ALIVE AND RECOVERING FASTER

Spiritual Depletion or Depression?

Signs of Abundant Spiritual Energy

Robust, healthy and strong.

Inventive and creative.

Able to move through life’s changes.

Appreciative of self.

Respectful of natures’ cycles as they appear in us and in our world.

Feeling one with others; with the universe.

Able to accept changes in others.

Courageous and life-giving.

Develops one’s contemplative nature

Lives out of an inward peace and serenity.

Able to feel and speak one’s feelings.

Able to dance and laugh; cry and grieve; hold and let go.

Full of love for self and others.

Love is outward in its focus.

Open to grace and Divine initiative in life.

Has a vision and practice of mercy and justice.

Integrates the spiritual and the secular.

Signs of Depletion of Spiritual Energy

Feeling fatigued, frail, or powerless.

Depression and feelings of “oppression”.

Confusion, anxiety and other fears /fragmentation.

Inability to set limits.

Stuck and unable to move through life’s changes.

Volatile, chronically fuming or angry.

Shameful or guilty.

Unfocused, not centered, scattered.

Cluttered and uncreative.

Chronic headaches, nausea, or stress related pain.

Unable to freely express feelings or to let go.

Making poor choices in relationships.

Inability to separate self from work.

Inattentive to one’s cycles.

Afraid to stop, dream, to sleep.

Feelings of inferiority or superiority.

Stress 101:from what are we running?

MANAGING STRESS

Stress is a normal and necessary part of life. Stress can be a good thing. The right amount, well managed, can make us feel alive, increase productivity, energy,

creativity, and happiness.

HOW WE MANAGE STRESS MATTERS

How do we measure stress?

BAD?

Waiting for the other shoe to drop….

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes,

especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

Perception of Stress….

• Dr. Kelly McGonigal at Stanford University is a Health Psychologist who is known for her research on stress related illness.

• She emphasizes the importance of an individual's subjective belief in themselves as someone who is able to cope successfully as being a crucial factor in their actual response to stress.

Manage, Mediate, Self- Regulate

Managing Stress: We can do this by using our minds and body-some examples are cognitive reframing, understanding cognitive distortions (catastrophizing, “what if” thinking, etc), use of relaxation techniques, deep breathing, meditation, mindfulness, prayer.

Mediating Stress: How do we interpret the event? Can we see a silver lining? Can we choose optimism?

CHOOSING OPTIMISM: MARTIN SELIGMAN ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE UNIVERSITY OF PA. RESEARCHER: LEARNED OPTIMISM

A Word About Exercise and the Brain

Exercise and the BRAIN

“If you do only one thing to keep your brain young, exercise.”

-Art Kramer, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience University of Illinois.

Reduces risk of dementia

Maintain better cognition and memory than inactive people

Improves mood

Improves sleep

Pumps up endorphins (the brain’s “feel good” neurotransmitters)

Boosts immune system

Resistance/Strength Training/Walk!!!!

Differences in Thinking Have Consequences

Optimists:

• do much better in school and college, at work, and on the playing field

• Regularly exceed the predictions of aptitude tests

• If running for office tend to be elected more often than pessimists

• Their health is unusually good

• Some evidence shows they may live longer

Differences in Thinking Have Consequences

Pessimists:

Literally hundreds of studies show that pessimists give up more easily and get depressed more often.

Pessimistic prophecies are self-fulfilling

Mild pessimism has its uses…but if we habitually believe that misfortune is our fault, is enduring, and will undermine everything we do, more of it will befall us than if we believe otherwise…..

So, that means:

we will get depressed easily

accomplish less than our potential

and even get physically sick more often

Martin Seligman, PhD, Learned Optimism

Aunt Sophie the pessimist

RUMINATION VS. AWE

Rumination-or mulling over worries-is the biggest predictor of depression and anxiety

AWE IS THE OPPOSITE

OF RUMINATION

RUMINATION IS A PREDICTOR OF DEPRESSION

OPTIMISM 101

Pessimists:

Tend to believe bad events will last a long time, undermine everything they do, and are their own fault.

Optimists:

Confronted with the same hard knocks think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. They believe defeat is not their fault: circumstances, bad luck, or something external brought it about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder.

Rumination is Unhealthy

• DEFINITION: A Tendency to engage in thoughts and behaviors that maintain ones focus on one’s negative emotions and the possible causes and consequences of those emotions. Negative, downward spiral that is characteristic of depression

• More than just reflecting or introspecting: NOT EFFECTIVE!

• Tends to be related to excessive self-focus, self-criticism, self-blame, hurts and wounds.

• Ruminators believe that this helps but they were significantly less likely to become actively engaged in problem solving than were non-ruminators

• In a study on coping with loss, Ruminators showed little decrease in distress over time

Rumination is Unhealthy

• Rumination is a hallmark of anxiety and depression

• When accompanied by chronic stress, immune function may be impaired

NOTE: If you MUST, set aside a limited period of time-when you are not feeling particularly sad or anxious OR call a trusted friend

FOCUS ON PROBLEM SOLVING AND HEALTHY COPING

EXPLANATORY STYLE

There are three crucial dimensions to your explanatory style:

Permanence

Pervasiveness

Personalization

Permanence

People who give up easily believe the causes of the bad events will persist, will always be there to affect their lives. People who resist helplessness believe the causes of bad events are temporary.

PERVASIVENESS

Some people can put their troubles neatly into a box and go about their lives even when one important aspect of it-their job, for example or their love life- is suffering. Others bleed all over everything. They catastrophize. When one thread of their lives snap, the whole fabric unravels.

PERSONALIZATION

Internal vs. External

When bad things happen, we can blame ourselves (Internalize) or we can blame other people or circumstances (Externalize.)

People who habitually blame themselves when they fail may have low self esteem as a consequence. They think they are worthless, talentless, and unlovable.

People who blame external events do not lose self esteem when bad events strike. Low self esteem usually comes from an internal style for bad events.

Put it in perspective…

Martin Seligman’s PERMA model

CORE BELIEFS:

MEANING: Serving a purpose bigger than oneself.

Rather than the pursuit of pleasure and material wealth, there is an actual meaning to our life.

Researcher Juliet Schor (Born to Buy) Boston College

Materialism has inverse relationship with happiness

A Sense of Purpose

My life has meaning

I have clear intentions and goals

Who takes care of You? Develop a self-care plan

Self Compassion…. Kristen Neff

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful

Luke 6:36

Dancing with God

God’s Gift to Us

We can receive it or not: Free Will

We can cooperate with God

We are wired for:

Communion with God

Communion with each other

What do Chip Kelly and God Have in Common?