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Spiritual Crisis

Surviving Trauma to the Soul

• By J Lebron Mcbride

• Price: $22.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 234
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 26th March 1998
• ISBN: 978-0-7890-0460-4

About the Book

It’s no revelation that in today’s world many people suffer from some form of spiritual crisis. But, fortunately, there is hope. In Spiritual Crisis: Surviving Trauma to the Soul, you’ll discover how you can reverse the impact of spiritual crisis and apply healing balm to the traumatized soul. A comprehensive, real-life approach to spiritual care, it gives you the understanding necessary to put a lid on the daily chaos that seeks to destroy those whose lives have been shattered by tragedy, terror, and disillusionment.

Written from the perspective of a compassionate professional who has navigated the dark and turbulent waters of his own spiritual crises, Spiritual Crisis represents a loving cross-section of aid from the fields of pastoral theology, psychology, and health care. Christians and non-Christians alike will benefit from its frank approach to aiding troubled souls through the tough times of belief transition, loss of faith, and potentially damaging extremes in living and thinking.

Specifically, you’ll read about:

• understanding the effects and roots of spiritual crisis and trauma
• coping with loss
• counteracting disillusionment with the church
• negotiating belief transitions
• dealing with religious burnout
• intervening in denominational identity crises
  
  Oftentimes, it’s hard to know what will make a loved one survive or succumb to the impact of seemingly insurmountable personal emergencies. However, this book is a “call to care” that will enable you to help others turn back the tide of debilitating hardship in their lives and restore the tempering unity of mind and body. Whether you’re a beginning pastoral counselor, a marriage and family therapist, or friend of a troubled loved one, Spiritual Crisis will show you and those you work with how to turn crisis into care.

Table of Contents

Contents Foreword

• Preface
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• The Spiritual Component of Crisis
• Spiritual Crisis Pathways
• To Whom This Book Is Written
• Introductory Remarks
• Chapter 2. The Crisis of Trauma
• Trauma Defined
• The Impact of Trauma on Spirituality
• Insights into the Damage to the Spiritual Self
• Pastoral Treatment Concerns
• The Risking and Revealing Phase
• The Responding and Releasing Phase
• The Reflecting and Reconciling Phase
• The Resurrecting and Rebuilding Phase
• Application to Those with Less Severe Trauma
• Chapter 3. The Crisis of Relationship and Family Problems
• The Anthropomorphism of God
• Parents As God Image
• Family Dynamics As God Image
• The Basic Faults of Relationships and Families
• Family Stress Theory
• Chapter 4. The Crisis of Disillusionment with the Church
• Idealism and the Church
• The Church Is Like Any Other Human Organization
• Is the Church Like Any Other Organization? No!
• Is the Church Like Any Other Institution? Yes and No!
• Chapter 5. The Crisis of Belief Transitions
• Kuhn’s Model for Scientific Transitions
• Crisis Can Bring Belief Transition
• Belief Transition Can Bring Crisis
• Belief Transitions: Continuity or Crisis?
• How Do We Minister to Those is Belief Transitions?
• Chapter 6. The Crisis of Denominational identity
• Idealism
• The Battle
• The Decision
• Considerations for Those in a Denominational Crisis
• Chapter 7. The Crisis of Extremes
• Splitting Polarities Give a False Assurance
• Integration of Polarities Gives Better Balance
• Polarities in the Christian Life
• Chapter 8. The Crisis of Loss
• The Disruption As the Result of Death
• Responding to Those with Loss
• Chapter 9. The Crisis of Physical Illness
• Biopsychosocial Existential Experiences
• Health Beliefs and Illness
• The Crisis of Chronic Illness
• The Importance of Prevention
• Psychological and Belief System Issues Affecting Health Behavior
• Grouping Barriers to Preventive Health Change
• The Church and Preventive Health
• Chapter 10. The Crisis of Religious Burnout
• Addictive Processes in Organizations
• The Problem of Mistaking Religion for Spirituality
• The Challenge
• Chapter 11. The Crisis of Psychological Disturbance
• The Impact of Mental Illness on the Family
• Assessment from a Perspective That Includes the Spiritual
• Considerations for Ministering to Those in the Church
• The Use of Spirituality and Religion in Psychologically Healthy Ways
• Chapter 12. The Crisis of Personal Identity
• The Search for Direction and Meaning
• The Importance of Balance in Relationships for Identity Formation
• Attachment Reactions That Form Pseudoidentities
• Chapter 13. The Crisis of Ethics
• The Crisis of Ethics and Fundamentalism
• A Foundation for the Ethics of Life
• Chapter 14. The Crisis of Working with People in Crisis
• Finding Meaning in LIfe
• Finding Sanctuary
• Learn to Surrender
• A Sense of Discipline
• Incorporating Others
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Index