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Transcript of Finding Our Invincible Summer: The Relationships Between Spirituality, Forgiveness & Posttraumatic...
Finding Our Invincible Summer: The Relationships Between Spirituality,
Forgiveness & Posttraumatic Growth
October 19, 2011NCVACC 2011 ANNUAL FALL CONFERENCE
Mary Beth Werdel, Ph.D., LPC, NCCAssistant Professor Pastoral Care & Counseling
Graduate School of Religion and Religious EducationFordham University
PART I : PTG THEORY & RESEARCH
PART II: SPIRITUALITY
BREAK
PART III: FORGIVENESS
PART IV: PRACTICE
BREAK
PART V: QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION
Basic Life Assumptions
Janoff-Bullman’s Theory: The world is benevolent The world is meaningful The self is worthy
Examples of Life Assumptions
The world is safe Bad things do not happen to good people Young people aren’t suppose to die
“ In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an
invincible summer.”-Albert Calmus
Posttraumatic Growth
Changes in the perception of self
Changes in relating to others
Philosophical changes of priorities, appreciations, and spirituality
(Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006).
Meaning-Making Coping (Park, 2005)
Global Meaning
Situational Meaning
Meaning Making Process
Stress Trauma
New Meaning
Discrepancies?
Yes No
Growth
NoYes
Keys to Growth
Distress/Perceived Stress
Cognitive Processing/Rumination + lead to growth - leads to getting “stuck”
Social Support
Wisdom
Who Experiences Growth?
Physical illness AIDs Cancer Bereavement Sexual Abuse Terrorist Attacks Veterans
Prevalence rates 30-90% (Tedechi & Calhoun, 1995)
Study of Growth with Veterans
Moore, S., Varra, A., Michael, S., & Simpson, T. (2010). Stress-Related Growth, Positive Reframing, and Emotional Processing in the Prediction of Post-Trauma Functioning Among Veterans in Mental Health Treatment. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 2 (2), 93-96.
Examined the relationship between SRG, PTSD, and coping
103 female & 100 male trauma-exposed veterans in mental health treatment in VA Health Care System
Greater SRG was associated with greater use of emotional processing and positive reframing in the two weeks prior to the assessment.
SRG may add an important piece to our understanding of posttrauma functioning.
Pre-trauma Characteristics Associated with Growth
Cognitive style
Optimism
Hopefulness
Creative thinkers
Openness (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1998).
Important Points
Trauma always intrinsically negative.
Enduring the trauma leads to growth.
Growth is not absence of pain.
Growth and PTSD can coexist.
Not everyone experiences growth.
“Nor deem the irrevocable past As wholly wasted, wholly vain. If rising on it’s wrecks at last To something nobler we attain”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Biblical References to Enduring Suffering
Jesus Job Paul’s Letter to the Romans (5:3)
Suffering produces endurance, endurance character, and character hope that does not disappoint.
Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians 4:8-9) “afflicted but not crushed; perplexed but not
despairing; persecuted but not forsaken struck down, but not destroyed.
C.S. Lewis (1961)A Grief Observed
“You never know how much you really believe anything until it is a mater of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hand by the rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?” (p. 34).
Desmond Tutu, 2004
Dear Child of God, I write these words because we all experience sadness. We all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that suffering in our lives and in the world will ever end. I want to share with you my faith and my understanding that this suffering can be transformed and redeemed. There is no such thing as a totally hopeless case. Our God is an expert at dealing with chaos, brokenness, with all the worst that we can imagine. God created order out of disorder, cosmos our of chaos, and God can do so always, can do so now- in our personal lives and in our lives as nations, globally. The most unlikely person, the most improbable situation- these are all “transfigurable” – they can be turned into their glorious opposites. Indeed, God is transforming the world now- through us-because God loves us.
Recent Relevant Research
Faith as Meaning making system Form of coping Way to orient oneself to an in the world
Empirical Associations between Religion, Spirituality & PTG
Faith as Frame for Meaning
Religious and Spiritual Practices
Religious Coping Positive Religious Coping Negative Religious Coping
Religious Orientation
Forgiveness as Religious Action
Werdel (2010) Study
Participants 429 adults Age range (18-83) Highly religious Highly educated Slightly more women Predominately white (82.1%)
Self Report Data
Psych Data
12 measures Faith Maturity Spiritual Struggles
Data Analysis Correlations
Hierarchical Multiple Regression & Partial F Tests
Moderators
Growth
Personality
Spirituality
Results
Strong relationships between posttraumatic growth and personality variables
Faith Maturity was the strongest predictor of Posttraumatic Growth
Spiritual Struggle strongest predictor of Positive Affect
Spiritual Struggle X Growth predict Positive Affect
Limitations of the Study
Self report data
Volunteer sample of convenience
Cross-sectional in design
Correlational data
Forgiveness Exercise
Take 5 minutes to think/journal about a time when you were forgiven.
Take 5 minutes to think/journal about a time when you forgave someone.
Generate a list of physical, psychological, spiritual reactions to forgiving/being forgiven.
Share in small groups your list.
Quotes
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you”--Lewis B. Smedes
“ If you really want to love, you need to learn to forgive” --Mother Teresa
Richard Rhor, Failing Upward
“ Every time God forgives us, God is saying God’s own rules do not matter as much as the relationship God wants to create with us.” (p. 57).
What is Forgiveness ?
Forgiveness is about change in and for the self not the transgressor (Lyubormirsky, 2007)
Can be associated with self, other, or divine
“Pro-social change in one’s motivation toward an offending partner” (Pargament & Thorsen, 2000).
What is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness
Condoning Pardoning
Forgetting
Excusing Denying
CondoningRestoration of Relationship
Psychological Reasons to Forgive
Happier Healthier More able to empathize More agreeable More serene Helps people move on Deepens our sense of shared humanity Strengthens our personal relationships Compels is into “we” mode of thinking
Lyubomirsky, 2007
Forgiveness Research
Linked to Happiness after traumatic events
Life threatening illnesses & increased levels of forgiveness ( Peterson, 2006; Peterson, Park & Seligman, 2006).
Linked to the feeling that one is able to move on (Lyubromirsky, 2007).
Early links to growth.
Research Studies
Peterson et al (2006) 1739 adults Varied traumas
Fisher (2002) 226 adults Oklahoma City Terrorist Attack 1995
Role of Religion
Religious Perspectives on Forgiveness Buddhist Tradition Jewish Tradition Catholic Tradition
Lord’s Prayer Prayer of St. Francis
Role of Religion
Laufer, Raz, Hamama, Levine, & Soloman (2009) 1482 Jewish adolescents
Schultz, Tallman, & Altmaier (2010) 146 adults
Intervention Study
McCullough, Root, & Cohen (2006) 304 undergraduate students Directional Relationship between growth and
forgiveness Participants wrote for 20 minutes about either
Traumatic aspects of an interpersonal transgression
Benefits of an interpersonal transgression Control topic not related to transgressions
Creating Space for Forgiveness
Offering a culture of forgiveness ( Fisher, 2006)
Personal story of psychotherapist
Practicing Forgiveness
Appreciate being forgiven Imagine forgiveness Write a letter of forgiveness Practice empathy Ruminate less Remind yourself of forgiveness
Lyubomirsky, 2007
Strengthening Forgiveness
Let a grudge go everyday When you feel annoyed, even with
justification, take the high road and do not tell anyone how you feel
Write a forgiveness letter; do not send it; but read it everyday for a week (Peterson, 2006, p. 160)
Clinical & Pastoral Implications
Suffering is not a “teachable moment.”
The importance of mature faith
The distress of spiritual struggle
Therapeutic work offering a culture of forgiveness
Clinical & Pastoral Implications
Unique role of spiritually focused professionals.
Lived relationship
Wiliness to travel into spiritual darkness.
Need to consult/refer
Balance
Clinical & Pastoral Implications
Individual assessment and determination needs to be made before encouraging forgiveness.
Potential negative consequences need to be examined.
The importance of seeing the spectrum
Holding the paradox