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

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PART III: FORGIVENESS

PART IV: PRACTICE

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PART V: QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION

PTG: THEORY & RESEARCH

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

“Shattered Assumptions” (Janoff-Bullman)

Trauma

“lost their way in the world” (Van der Kolk)

“ 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).

Psychological Frame

Traditional Positive PsychologyWhat is going wrong? What is going

right?

Emily’s Essay

What Are Our Expectations?

Expect Growth

No Awareness of Growth

The Middle Path

THEORIES OF GROWTH

How does growth occur?

Ways of Coping

Problem-focused

Emotion-focused

Meaning-focused*

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

PTG, SPIRITUALITY & FORGIVENESS

“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” - Helen Keller

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

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)

Models of Forgiveness

PRACTICE

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

QUESTIONS & DICUSSION