Ancient Christian Prayer, Modern Healing

Sam Thielman, M.D., Ph.DStill Waters Clinical Services PLLCMontreat, NC

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Psalms, Resilience and PraisePraying the psalms as Christians

Praying the psalms can be a channel of God’s grace for building resilience and endurance

Psalms help us voice our distress

The psalms point us to praise and to the larger purposes of the kingdom of God

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HK Presentation 1 Draft

Summary of PTSD (DSM-V)

A. Traumatic eventB. Intrusive symptomsC. Avoidance of remindersD. Negative alterations and cognitions and mood

including memory gaps, exaggerated negative beliefs, distorted beliefs about the cause, persistent negativity, diminished interest, detachment, inability to experience positive emotions)

E. Alterations in emotional reactivityF. Duration more than one month

The potential effect of trauma on worldview• “Traumatic events call into question basic human relationships.

They breach the attachments of family, friendship, love, and community. They shatter the construction of the self that is formed and sustained in relation to others. They undermine the belief systems that give meaning to human experience. They violate the victim’s faith in natural or divine order and cast the victim into a state of existential crisis.”

Trauma and Recovery, Judith Lewis Herman (New York: Basic Books, 1992), p. 51

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ReligioninRelationtoDifferentConceptualLevels

Philosophy

…………………………………………….BorderlineQuestions;ParadigmCritique

AnalysisofBorderlineQuestions

Science

……………………………………………InterpretationsofCoreConcepts;Heuristics;NewHypotheses

AnalysisandAbstraction

Profession ……………………………………………Goals,IdealsandViewsofMan;Ethic;IntroductionofClientandWorkerValues;

Competences;Identification;PerspectiveBuilding

EverydayExperience

…………………………………………..Moral,WorldviewandReligiousInterpretationsofDailyLife

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FiguretakenfromGerritGlas,ModelsOfIntegrationAndPsychologyAndPsychiatry,unpublishedmanuscript

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Shaw et al (2005)

Reviewed 11 empirical studies of religion and posttraumatic coping and found:

1. Religious and spiritual beliefs and behaviors can develop because of a traumatic event and they can be helpful in psychological recovery, sometimes being very helpful to people.

2. Religion and spirituality can provide a unifying philosophy of life and serve as and integrating and stabilizing force that provides a framework for interpreting life's challenges.

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Mindfulness

Is there a relationship between mindfulness and praying the psalms?Recent critique of mindfulness research:

Misinformation and poor methodology associated with past studies of mindfulness may lead consumers to be harmed, misled, and disappointment.

Mindfulness research has been problematic:

There is no universally accepted technical definition of mindfulnessThere is no consensus about the underlying concept wo which mindfulness occurs

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No consistent definition of mindfulnessSometimes, “mindfulness” denotes a faculty for being consciously aware and taking account of currently prevailing situations

In other research, it refers to a formal practice of sitting on a cushion in a specific posture and attending to breath or other focus of attention

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Mindfulness research has tended to simplify the concept of mindfulnessA common definition regards mindfulness as a moment to moment awareness, cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, in the present moment, as noreactivity, nonjudgmentally and openheartedly as possible.

This definition has been criticized as being one of convenience regarding those constructs most readily comprehensible to Western audiences (van Dam et al, 2017)

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Mindfulness and the Psalms

Mindfulness is a poorly defined category in most research studies and may not be the part of meditation, focused attention that can helpful to traumatized people

Psalms prayer, recitation has only a superficial connection to the quasi-Buddhist practice of mindfulness.

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Ways of using the psalms for personal devotion

Read a psalm a dayUse the Use the M’Cheyne Reading PlanUse the Book of Common Prayer planUse the Benedictine planUse the Common Worship Daily Prayer plan

Psalms and the People of God

When other passages of Scripture are used in the church, the words are drowned in the noise of talking, but when the Psalter is read, all are dumb.

Anyone possessed of his five wits should blush with shame if he did not begin the day with the psalm, since even the tiniest birds open and close the day with sweet psalms of holy devotion. (Ambrose of Milan)

Of other Scriptures most men know nothing, but the psalms are repeated in private houses, in streets, and marketplaces, by those who have learned them by heart, and feel the soothing power of their divine melodies.” (Theodore of Mopsuestia)

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The psychological significance of the psalms

The book of Psalms is distinguished from all other books of the Bible by the fact that it contains only prayers… Are these prayers to God also God’s own word? That seems rather difficult to understand. We grasp it only when we remember that we can learn true prayer only from Jesus Christ, from the word of the Son of God, who lives with us men, to God the father, who lives in eternity.… All prayers of the Bible are such prayers which we pray together with Jesus Christ in which he accompanies us…”

DietrichBonhoeffer,Psalms:ThePrayerBookoftheBible (1970)pp.13-14

Praying the Psalms in Christ“When we… delve deeper into what lies behind the literal sense of the words [of the psalms] we bring to light a new spiritual meaning which is the full depth of what, in German, lies buried under the surface meaning of the text. This deeper, holier meaning can be discovered in the. After Christ because in his light the text takes on an altogether new perspective….it is the new dimension which has been added to the development of the history of redemption by the coming of Christ.…When we explain the psalms in this way we come at once into immediate living contact with revelation.

From, Pius Drijvers, The Psalms: Their Structure And Meaning (Montréal: Palm Publishers, 1965), pages 12-13.

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As we pray the psalms, there are two questions we may have in our minds:

• What it meant • What it means

A resilience exercise

• Read the psalm slowly and prayerfully, thinking about each verse• As you are able, offer the psalm as a prayer go God in Christ’s name• Take seriously the spiritual struggle with the forces of darkness thatthe psalms reflect

• Listen to the psalms christocentrically, watching Christ to battle withthe enemies of God

• Naïvely, and uncritically listen to the verses being recited by JesusChrist

• Are there any how might this psalm promote resilience andendurance?

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WilliamHolladay,ThePsalmsThrough3000Years:PrayerBookOfACloudOfWitnesses (Minneapolis:Fortresspress,1993),page356.

Group Questions

Is there a way the psalm you read/prayed could be seen as supporting one or more of the 10 resilience factors listed in the plenary session?

Is there something you can learn from the psalm that could support your own resilience as a therapist?

Is there something that might be helpful to particular patients struggling with traumatic stress?

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The Resilience Factors

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

AdaptedfromSouthwickandCharney:Resilience:TheScienceofMasteringLife’sGreatestChallenges(CambridgeUniversityPress,2012,p.13)

SturdyRoleModels

CognitiveFlexibility

ResponsibleforPersonalEmotionalWellbeingSocialSupport

Religious/SpiritualResources

ActiveProblemSolving

RealisticOptimism

Physical,Mental,andEmotionalTraining

MeaninginAdversity

InnerMoralCompass

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The penitential psalms and moral injuryThe Seven Penitential Psalms

Psalm 6 – O Lord, rebuke me not in thine angerPsalm 32 – Blessed is he whose transgression is forgivenPsalm 38 – O Lord rebuke will not and thy wrathPsalm 51 – Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindnessPsalm 102 – Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto theePsalm 130 – Out of the depths have I cried unto the, O LordPsalm 143 – Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications

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How might praying the psalms promote resilience?

RitualPsalm perspective on sufferingHealthy automatic thinkingConnection to the larger Christian communityPsalm perspective on where God is during distress

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Hope in the Story of the Distressed: Psalm 107

HK Presentation 1 Draft

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33 He changes rivers into desert,springs of water into thirsty ground,34 fruitful land into a salty waste,for the wickedness of those who live there.

35 He changes desert into pools of water,thirsty ground into springs of water.36 There he settles the hungry,and they establish a city to dwell in.

43 Should not one who is wise recall these things,and understand the merciful deeds of the LORD?

Psalm 107:33-36, 43

Be still, know, wait• Psalm 27- The Lord is my light and my salvation• Psalm 37 –Fret not thyself because of evildoers• Psalm 46 - God is our refuge and strength• Psalm 62 – Truly my soul waiteth upon God

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Stillness and Waiting for God: Attention and Awareness in GodPsalm 27

1The LORD is my light and my salvation;whom shall I fear?The LORD is the stronghold of my life;whom should I dread?

2When those who do evil draw nearto devour my flesh,it is they, my enemies and foes,who stumble and fall.

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3Though an army encamp against me,my heart would not fear.Though war break out against me,even then would I trust.

4There is one thing I ask of the LORD,only this do I seek:to live in the house of the LORDall the days of my life,to gaze on the beauty of the LORD,to inquire at his temple.

5For there he keeps me safe in his shelterin the day of evil.He hides me under cover of his tent;he sets me high upon a rock. . . .

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13I believe I shall see the LORD’s goodnessin the land of the living.14Wait for the LORD; be strong;be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD!

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1Do not fret because of the wicked;do not envy those who do evil,2for they wither quickly like grassand fade like the green of the fields.3Trust in the LORD and do good;then you will dwell in the land and safely pasture.4Find your delight in the LORD,who grants your heart’s desire.5Commit your way to the LORD;trust in him, and he will act,

6and make your uprightness shine like the light,the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.7Be still before the LORD and wait in patience;do not fret at the one who prospers,the one who makes evil plots.

8Calm your anger and forget your rage;do not fret, it only leads to evil.9For those who do evil shall perish.But those who hope in the LORD,they shall inherit the land.

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Psalm 37

Psalm 62

2In God alone is my soul at rest;my salvation comes from him.3He alone is my rock, my salvation,my fortress; never shall I falter.

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Psalm 46

2God is for us a refuge and strength,an ever-present help in time of distress:3so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,though the mountains quake to the heart of the sea;4even though its waters rage and foam,even though the mountains be shaken by its tumult.The LORD of hosts is with us:the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

5The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,the holy place, the dwelling of the Most High.

6God is within, it cannot be shaken;God will help it at the dawning of the day.7Nations are in tumult, kingdoms are shaken:he lifts his voice, the earth melts away.

8The LORD of hosts is with us:the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

9Come and behold the works of the LORD,the awesome deeds he has done on the earth.10He puts an end to wars over all the earth;the bow he breaks, the spear he snaps, the shields he burns with fire:11“Be still and know that I am God,exalted over nations, exalted over earth!”12The LORD of hosts is with us:the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

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Using the psalms clinically• Perhaps more for us than for our patients and clients• Listening for some themes relating to resilience• Being guided by the outlook of the psalms▫ The meaning of adversity▫ The voicing of experience

• The grateful heart• The place of shelter• No places without God• His words, when our words fail

How the psalms can help us as care providers:• Can improve our own resilience• Mitigate vicarious traumatization• Gives a way to bridge the worldview gap with traumatized people▫ I recommend this because the reading of the psalms has become part of life of the

church since early days. In the Bible the psalm is the second most quoted book in the New Testament. Jesus prayed the psalms.

• In addition, in our current age, we are often informed that spirituality can enhance resilience. This is often interpreted to mean yoga or mindfulness or some other Eastern form of religion but, as German psychiatrist Arnd Barocka as indicated, mindfulness and Buddhism are outside of our own tradition and it would be nice to have something that it is within our own tradition that we could use. Why not the psalms?

The psalms promote healing

They shape our thoughtsThey shape our visionThey shape us spirituallyThe point us to the right way to liveWe are not alone: the psalmist shares our struggleWe are not alone in this world though it can seem like it for a long time: god is with us

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