Page 115 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

84 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

indicate that they find their faith as a hindrance in their recovery from
the trauma, viewing the incident as an expression of God’s wrath or proof
that a benevolent, omnipotent Deity does not exist (Elliott, 1994; Falsetti,
Resick, & Davis, 2003; Fitchett, Rybarczyk, DeMarcoo, & Nicholas, 1999;
Fontana & Rosenheck, 2004; Pargament et al., 2002, 2004b; Strawbridge
et al., 1998).
Disasters affect communities by overwhelming their capacity to address
physical and emotional needs, by destroying resources, disrupting impor-
tant attachments and relationships, threatening safety, and exceeding indi-
vidual and community capacity to make meaning of the events (Hobfoll
et al., 2007). Most mental health research has been on the negative mental
health outcomes of disaster, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depres-
sion, and alcohol abuse (Bonanno, 2004; Brewin, Andrews, & Valentine,
2000; Kessler, Sonnegar, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995; Ozer, Best,
Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003). From the perspective of many faith communities,
disaster may be viewed not only as a loss and target for problem solv-
ing but also as a challenge that can inspire growth and foster improved
functioning, or “posttraumatic growth.” Such growth is characterized by
perceiving oneself as resilient, having more meaningful relationships with
others, developing an increased appreciation for life, and experiencing
enhanced spirituality (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996).

Background and Data

The authors for this chapter represent clinicians and a clinically trained
chaplain who are involved in care of combat veterans and have both per-
sonal and professional experience with other types of disasters, includ-
ing tornados, workplace violence, and a bridge collapse. Our work has
involved research designed to identify aspects of spirituality that are asso-
ciated with recovery from trauma, as well as aspects of spirituality that
appear to hinder recovery from trauma. This work has grown to include
the development of spiritually integrated interventions, including a pro-
gram of prayer skills training to assist trauma survivors in maximizing
their faith resources in recovery.
Patterns of findings in the mental health research on spirituality and
trauma are emerging with increasing clarity. For example, in a study of
survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (Pargament, Smith,
Koenig, & Perez, 1998) researchers found that those accessing certain types