Trauma, Meaning, and Spirituality: Translating Research into Clinical Practice - Hardcover

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

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 143382325X ISBN 13: 9781433823251

Publisher: American Psychological Association, 2016

Synopsis

Trauma represents a spiritual or religious violation for many people. Survivors attempt to make sense out of painful events, incorporating that meaning into their current worldview in either a harmful or a more helpful way. This volume helps mental health practitioners―many of whom are less religious than their clients―understand the important relationship between trauma and spirituality, and how to best help survivors create meaning out of their experiences. Drawing on relevant theories and research, the authors present a new conceptual framework, the Reciprocal Meaning-Making Model, demonstrating how it can guide both assessment and treatment. Through the use of case material, the authors examine a range of spiritual views, traumas, and posttraumatic reactions that are reflective of the population as a whole rather than targeting only specific religions or cultural perspectives. Given the lack of scientific literature on the topic, this book fills an important gap, and will appeal to clinicians and researchers alike.

About this title

About the Author:

Crystal L. Park, PhD, is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on multiple aspects of coping with stressful events, including the roles of religious beliefs and religious coping, the phenomenon of stress-related growth, and the making of meaning in the context of bereavement, traumatic events, and life-threatening illnesses.

Joseph M. Currier, PhD, is an assistant professor and director of clinical training in the combined Clinical and Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program at the University of South Alabama. His research focuses on psychological, spiritual/existential, and physical health consequences of military trauma and other stressful life events (e.g., bereavement, community violence) and on enhancing clinical interventions and assessment practices for individuals and families dealing with these issues.

J. Irene Harris, PhD, LP, is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Departments of Psychiatry and Counseling Psychology, as well as a clinician investigator at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. Her research focuses on the intersection and clinical applications of relationships between spiritual/religious functioning and mental health, with an emphasis on trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Jeanne M. Slattery, PhD, is professor of psychology at Clarion University. She has written Empathic Counseling: Meaning, Context, Ethics, and Skill (with Crystal Park; 2011) and Counseling Diverse Clients: Bringing Context Into Therapy (2003). She has a small private practice working with adults and children with mood and anxiety disorders, especially subsequent to a history of trauma.

Review:

Trauma, Meaning, and Spirituality is an exemplary text for training future clinicians and for continued education for practicing psychotherapists and scholars. Future scholarship should build on this work through in-depth explorations into trauma processes that occur over time and uniquely within the systems in which the trauma occurs. --PsycCRITIQUES

About this edition

• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 143382325X
• ISBN 13: 9781433823251
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312