Trauma, meaning, and spirituality: Translating research into clinical practice.

Park, Crystal L.; Currier, Joseph M.; Harris, J. Irene; Slattery, Jeanne M.

doi:10.1037/15961-000

Cited by 60 publications

(105 citation statements)

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“…According to an estimation of the Robert‐Koch‐Institute (), about 70.000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Germany every year. In the face of such a serious illness, things may lose their former meaning, and the sense of stability, familiarity and safety becomes questionable (Laranjeira et al., ; Park et al., ). Basic assumptions of the world seeming controllable and just may be shattered, former goals may no longer be achievable, one's sense of meaning unravelled (Janoff‐Bulman, ; Vehling et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding meaning in suffering?-Meaning making and psychological adjustment over the course of a breast cancer disease

Loeffler

Poehlmann²,

Hornemann

2018

Eur J Cancer Care

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This study aimed to explore individual meaning systems in the course of a breast cancer disease to test the assumed positive relation between meaning and well-being and to investigate the relationship between post-traumatic growth and well-being. A total of 65 patients with breast cancer were examined 1 year after initial treatment and another year follow-up. Questionnaires addressed meaning in life (MLQ), anxiety and depression (HADS), satisfaction with life (SWLS), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D, EORTC) and post-traumatic growth (PTGI). Personal meaning systems were assessed using a qualitative method. In the personal meaning systems with well-being and relationships as the most frequently named meaning categories, the experienced gains far outweigh the losses sustained as a result of the disease. A stronger sense of meaning was related to lower levels of anxiety and depression, a higher level of satisfaction with life and better health-related functioning. Well-being and post-traumatic growth were mostly independent. Reported losses were strongly related to a poorer well-being. Cancer can induce a process of personal growth, and a strong sense of purpose could facilitate psychological adjustment. The often claimed correlation of post-traumatic growth and a better psychological adjustment is still lacking clear evidence, whereas losses proofed to be crucial.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding meaning in suffering?-Meaning making and psychological adjustment over the course of a breast cancer disease

Loeffler

Poehlmann²,

Hornemann

2018

Eur J Cancer Care

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“…Although the proportion of people with ties to traditional religious groups has been decreasing in the United States (Ellison & McFarland, ), recent findings from another community sample of veterans revealed that 40% were religiously affiliated or engaged in spiritual activities or practices on a regular basis (e.g., prayer, service attendance; Sharma et al., ). Notwithstanding the health‐related benefits of these aspects of spirituality for coping with stress or trauma (Park, Currier, Harris, & Slattery, ), others have suggested that highly religious veterans might be more vulnerable to experiencing MI in certain contexts (Harris, Park, Currier, Usset, & Voecks, ; Koenig et al., ). Namely, because moral and religious beliefs are so interconnected in such cases, MI could reverberate into causing struggles in this multicultural domain.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In many cases, this last struggle could be religiously themed or play out in religious communities or contexts. However, similar to other forms of spiritual struggles in Exline et al.’s () framework, struggles with ultimate meaning could also emerge from psychological processes that might not be explicitly related to religious or spiritual systems of meaning making (Park et al., ).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, in keeping with poor mental health outcomes linked with weakening of religiousness in nonmilitary samples (e.g., Seirmarco et al., ), Park et al. () suggested these individuals might experience an added burden of spiritual distress that complicates long‐term recovery. Similarly, when religion or spirituality played a formative role in identity development earlier in life, Koenig et al.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Moral Injury and Spiritual Struggles in Military Veterans: A Latent Profile Analysis

Currier

Foster

Isaak

2019

Journal of Traumatic Stress

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War‐related traumas can lead to emotional, relational, and spiritual suffering. Drawing on two community samples of war zone veterans from diverse military eras (Study 1, N = 616 and Study 2, N = 300), the purpose of this study was to examine patterns of constellations between outcomes related to moral injury (MI) and common ways in which veterans may struggle with religion or spirituality, defined as divine, morality, meaning, interpersonal, and doubt. Results from latent profile analyses revealed three distinct classes across the samples, based on psychometrically validated instruments: (a) no MI‐related outcomes or spiritual struggles (nondistressed group; Study 1 = 72.7%, Study 2 = 75.0%); (b) MI‐related outcomes and equivalent or lower degrees of spiritual struggles relative to MI‐related outcomes (psychological MI group; Study 1 = 19.2%, Study 2 = 17.0%); and (c) MI‐related outcomes and salient struggles with religious faith or spirituality, both within their own profiles and compared to other groups (spiritual MI group; 8.1% and 8.0% in the two samples). When we compared severity of spiritual struggles within MI groups, turmoil with God or a higher power emerged as a defining feature of the spiritual MI group in both samples. In addition, secondary analyses revealed membership in this third group was linked with greater importance of religion or spirituality before military service, χ2(1, N = 616 and 300) = 4.468–8.273. Overall, although more research is needed, these findings highlight the possible utility of differentiating between psychological and spiritual subtypes of MI according to war zone veterans’ religious or spiritual backgrounds.

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“…I have since incorporated logotherapy and related positive psychology ideas into various disaster‐related projects and papers, meaning serving as a prime focal point (e.g., Aiena et al., ; Drescher et al., ; Schulenberg, Drescher, & Baczwaski, ; Weathers et al., in press). An empirical question central to this work is the idea that meaning may stimulate resilience and catalyze posttraumatic growth (Schulenberg, ; see also Park, Currier, Harris, & Slattery, ; Southwick et al., ). It is imperative for researchers to study the conditions under which such relationships occur.…”

Section: An Introduction To the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster Mental Health and Positive Psychology–Considering the Context of Natural and Technological Disasters: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Schulenberg

2016

J Clin Psychol

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This article serves as an introduction to the Journal of Clinical Psychology's special issue on disaster mental health and positive psychology. The special issue comprises two sections. The first section presents a series of data-driven articles and research-informed reviews examining meaning and resilience in the context of natural and technological disasters. The second section presents key topics in the area of disaster mental health, with particular relevance for positive psychology and related frameworks. The special issue is intended to bridge the gap between these two areas of applied science, with the audience being experienced clinicians or clinicians in training.

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Trauma, meaning, and spirituality: Translating research into clinical practice.

Cited by 60 publications

References 0 publications

Finding meaning in suffering?-Meaning making and psychological adjustment over the course of a breast cancer disease

Finding meaning in suffering?-Meaning making and psychological adjustment over the course of a breast cancer disease

Moral Injury and Spiritual Struggles in Military Veterans: A Latent Profile Analysis

Disaster Mental Health and Positive Psychology–Considering the Context of Natural and Technological Disasters: An Introduction to the Special Issue

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