The Trauma Center at JRI and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network are providing 3 free webinars (for CE credit) on the topic of polyvictimization and diagnosis, developmental issues, and the judicial system. Speakers are Julian Ford (UConn) and Bessel van der Kolk. Each webinar counts for 1.5 CEs.
See OVC Speaker Series Flyer for specifics on who, what, when, and how you get on.
Filed under Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, trauma
This afternoon I will be speaking to pastors, ministers, elders, and key ministry leaders of the Bible Fellowship Church denomination at their annual conference. Their website states they have over 65 churches and over 10,000 in worship on a given Sunday.
It is a wonderful opportunity to talk about a difficult subject: abuse in the church.
We would like to believe that it happens elsewhere. But the church is not free from those who would harm children. The church has never been free from matters of abuse. The Apostle Paul takes a church to task for putting up with what sounds like abuse and incest. Thankfully, the evangelical church is waking up to the need to educate leaders about sexual abuse and how to care for both victims and perpetrators.
If you are interested in seeing what I will be talking about, here’s the slide show: Abuse In the Church
NEED MORE RESOURCES?
If you are new to this blog, use the search engine to find many other posts about preventing and responding abuse in the church. Or, click the image to the right for a 5 plus hour DVD on this very topic. Or check out www.netgrace.org for excellent resources and help on dealing with abuse in Christian settings.
Filed under Abuse, christian counseling, Christianity: Leaders and Leadership, trauma
In light of the recent bombing in Boston, I thought I would use today’s post as a timely book note. Will van der Hart (Anglican vicar) and Rob Waller (Psychiatrist) have written a small but helpful book entitled, The End of Worry: Why We Worry and How to Stop (2011, Howard Books). What makes this book interesting is the fact that Will freely discusses his own struggle with worry, made more evident after the 2005 bombings in his city of London. While the bombings were the final straw to panic attacks, Will also explores some of the early roots of worry in his life.
If you struggle with worry, there are several reasons why this little book might be a comfort to you.
The book sits firmly in the cognitive behavioral model of intervention. Therefore, much of it encourages readers to explore belief systems about self and world and to begin challenging faulty thinking and to work to replace with more appropriate cognitions, meditations, and self-talk. CBT is not the only therapeutic model but offers anxious people something to do.
If you would like to work through a book that describes the process of worry and perfectionism and then gives you some ideas to examine and change your own struggle, this might be the book for you.
*I received a free copy of this book without any obligation to write this post.
Filed under Anxiety, christian counseling, Cognitive biases, Good Books, Uncategorized
Friends of mine at Wheaton College’s Humanitarian Disaster Institute are offering a 4 day seminar for those who want to 
help their church respond to local and international disasters. The goal is to prepare your church to be disaster resilient and to respond well to needs in your community. If your church is desiring to have an effective disaster ministry, you should attend this training. HDI is able to bring together theological discussions, leadership training, and best practices for psychological first aid.
Details:
Check out this HDI Disaster Leadership Workshop (2) for details and registration.
Amy Carmichael with children (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have heard several biblical counselors use the following story to teach about the true source of our sinful anger.
If you are holding a cup and I bump your arm and so the contents spill out on the floor, what caused the spill? You might be inclined to blame me. It wouldn’t have spilled except that you bumped me. But, really, the only reason why it spilled is that you had contents in your cup. If the contents weren’t in the cup, it wouldn’t spill no matter how hard I bumped into you. When we get sinfully angry, it is easy to blame the other as the cause. In reality, the true source of sinful anger is the one who is expressing it. The one who bumps is not the cause, only the situation that uncovers what was already there
This little analogy finds its basis in the book of James (3:9f)
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water
But, where did this cup story find its origin? In all of the times I heard this little story, I never heard it attributed to someone. As a result, I assumed it originated with someone in the biblical counseling movement.
While I still do not know the FIRST time it was used, I can tell you that it appears in Amy Carmighael’s little book, IF, published first in the 1930s. I have an undated copy of the book (published by CLC). Page 37 says this,
If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love.*
*For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water however suddenly jolted.
Is this the origin? Anyone know if someone before the 1930s used this example?
Filed under anger, biblical counseling
Suicide is in the news these days. Military suicides are off the charts. Bullied teens are in the news this week along with a nationally known pastor’s son. Suicide is an important topic! We need to talk about why, for some, suicidal thoughts (fairly common across the population) become plans and actions. We need to explore what helps reduce suicide as a desirable option. We need to talk about how to care for those left after the horror of suicide.
But here’s a question: Have you ever heard a sermon or a Sunday School lesson on the topic of suicide?
I can’t say that I have.
This week I was sent a survey about graduate theological education and suicide assessment and prevention training. Our counseling students get a bit of education on suicide assessment in a couple different courses. They read an article or two on the topic. Not really enough but our challenge is to know what to cut in order to fit more suicide material into the program.
The result is that most learn in the middle of a crisis. Not really the best plan.
If you are looking for materials, let me point you to a few:
1. National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.
2. CCEF. Use their search tool to find their resources in this packed website (some free, some cost a bit). Jeff Black’s article on understanding suicide is helpful. There are several blogs that are free.
3. Al Hsu’s book, “Grieving a Suicide.”
4. American Foundation For Suicide Prevention.
If you google suicide and christian, you will notice that the vast majority of material is about whether or not suicided individuals can still go to heaven. While this is an important question, it appears that we have spent more time on this topic than on that of prevention and intervention.
Maybe we can do a bit better than this? Let’s commit to talking about it rather than being afraid.
Filed under Depression, Psychology
You’ve had a bad day. Your spouse comes home and you proceed to tell them about your difficult, frustrating day. When you finish telling your tale of woe, your spouse says the following (with appropriate feeling)
Wow, that really was a tough day. I’m sorry it has been so hard for you. Why don’t you take it easy and I’ll handle…[whatever menial task you would normally do right now]
Normally, this validation would feel quite nice. But what if you knew that your spouse didn’t really feel the warm fuzzies they were trying to send your way? What if they were only saying what they thought you wanted to hear?
Would you still feel loved because of the effort they made? That they wanted to “fake it ’til they make it”?
A recent This American life radio episode covers this very issue. The fifteen minute episode tells of a man with Aspergers who needed to learn how to love his wife and did so by observing and mimicking others who had better social skills. At one point in the show, the interviewer asks his wife if it matters to her that her husband doesn’t feel the empathy he is trying to convey.
Her answer? No.
What would your answer be?
Filed under love, marriage, Psychology, Relationships, Uncategorized
If you haven’t experienced PTSD from a traumatic experience, you might wonder what a traumatic reaction might feel like. What I give below is just a teeny window. Note that what I write about is NOT PTSD but shares some of the same features on a very small and temporary scale.
Imagine the following:
You are sleeping peacefully but at 3:30 am by a horrible metallic crash just outside your home. You recognize the sound as a car crash. What follows that sound is continued crashes, spinning tires, shifting gears, more smashing sounds, shifting gears, then your house rocks when the vehicle hits your porch. You grab your glasses and stumble to your feet, find your pants and start for the phone to dial 911. Without yet seeing what is happening, you imagine that someone is choosing to smash another vehicle in order to get revenge. In a flash you imagine someone very angry who may be dangerous. You try to dial 911 but its dark and you are not yet awake. On the 3rd try, you get it right and the operator comes on the line. She asks several questions (who are you, spell your name, where do you live, what is your nearest cross street, what is your telephone number, what is the emergency, is anyone hurt, etc.). You struggle to answer these questions because of the distress of the situation and the tightening knot in your stomach. You hang up and look out the window. The sound of the offending vehicle dies away. You look outside and see a smashed car crossways the road. It is dark so you cannot tell if anyone is in the vehicle, if anyone is hurt, if danger is outside. You feel paralyzed and sick to your stomach. Should you go outside and see? What if the violent person is still out there?
Soon, the police arrive and neighbors pour out of houses. You venture out to learn that a drunk driver lost control and smashed into a parked car. the driver ended up on your neighbor’s grass and the repeated smashes were the result of his attempt to get back onto the street. Each neighbor describes what they heard or saw. The police arrive and take their reports and photographs. As neighbors share stories and laugh (even the one whose car was destroyed), you feel your stomach relax and you return to you bed for what is left of the night.
The next day, you go to work a bit more tired than usual. You tell a colleague or two about the experience. You perform your duties without significant difficulty. BUT, at moments of silence, you keep hearing the noises of the smashes, spinning tires, more smashes. You feel your stomach tense. You feel embarrassed that you struggled to communicate to the 911 operator. You feel embarrassed about your hesitation to go outside. You feel somehow that you would have failed to protect your family if they were really in danger (due to paralysis). You remember 2 other times you didn’t respond well to a crisis. The next night, you find yourself wound up and unable to sleep.
Again, this little vignette does not make a PTSD diagnosis. Those who have experienced terrible traumas (e.g., sexual assault, witnessing sudden death or forced to participate in a killing) would likely feel this event is simplistic. They are right and yet, you might see how the body/mind may respond to a crisis or the perception of a crisis.
Notice in this situation, some of these PTSD symptoms are not present and not likely to form. the problem resolves quickly and, more importantly, the shared conversation with neighbors afterwards reduces much of the isolation that is often common in traumatizing experiences. And yet, notice that sounds of the accident keep coming back to the person. In addition, this person feels some level of guilt and shame about the response to the event. This feeling can increase isolation and negative ruminations about personal failures.
Given this situation and it’s randomness, the person is not likely to remain distressed. Symptoms such as these tend to fade quickly. If, instead, the scenario contained sexual violence by a loved one, confusing physical responses, threats to one’s life if you cried out, you can quickly see how the symptoms would not easily fade but would grow in intensity, frequency and duration.
Filed under Psychology, ptsd, trauma, Uncategorized
This summer, Jim Owens, PsyD will be offering a one weekend class (Aug 23-24) entitled, Essential Psychopharmacology for Counselors. Jim is a board member here at Biblical and has extensive training in psychopharmacology. In fact, he is board certified by the Prescribing Psychologist Registry. He will review traditional and alternative medicines commonly used today as well as best practices for engaging prescribers. In his course description he says,
The ever-growing use of medications, both traditional and complementary, to treat mental health problems, has both helped and harmed many people. Approximately 80% of all psychoactive medicines are prescribed or recommended by non-specialists, who frequently have little time, training or experience to accurately diagnose the person’s condition. Therefore, trained counselors and psychotherapists are in a crucial position to aid their clients in getting appropriate treatment. This involves knowing some basics regarding which available talk therapies as well as medications are most likely to be helpful for those struggling with certain problems. It is also important to know how to interact with your clients’ physician(s) and other health care providers.
Get CEs!
The course is 1 graduate credit (includes some pre and post course work) OR, 9 CE hours for counselors. Biblical is an approved provider of CES for counselors by NBCC. To read more on costs and other CE approved courses this summer, click here.
Over at the Seminary’s blog page, you can find a short post of mine on the topic of lament and our need to enact lament in our church services. We seem to be able to do this on Good Friday but I would suggest that it is an essential practice until all suffering, “is made untrue” (to quote Tolkien).
Filed under "phil monroe", Biblical Seminary, Christianity
Musings on Faith and Psychology 