d d In Simonic’s and Klobucar’s (2017) article entitled “Experiencing Positive
Religious Coping in the Process of Divorce: A Qualitative Study,” the
researchers found positive spiritual or religious coping to be highly adaptive
and even transformative for those having undergone the major stressor of
divorce. The researchers utilized Colaizzi’s (1978) “method of
phenomenological inquiry” (as cited in Simonic & Klobucar, 2017, p. 1649).
This methodology resides in the camp of structuralism as it seeks to
identify current feelings, phenomena, thoughts, and sensations that exist
presently in the mind. After Simonic and Klobucar analyzed the input
received through phenomenological methodology, they came to the following
summation regarding three themes of lived experience for the divorced
participants: “experiencing the burden of divorce, which related to
experiencing the relationship with God and the ways of spiritual coping with
divorce, and experiencing the effects of religious coping with divorce” (p.
1649).
d d d d d d For this study, Simonic and Klobucar interviewed eleven
participants that had undergone divorce in the last five years. Margulis
(2007) claimed, “Divorce takes place on different levels and covers different
areas: emotional divorce, legal divorce, economical divorce, parental divorce,
mental divorce, as well as divorce from a community (social network of
friends, neighbors, school, etc.)” (as cited in Simonic & Klobucar, 2017, p.
1647). The reality is divorce impacts every domain of human functioning,
including relationships with self, others, and God.
d d d d d d In this particular study surrounding divorce, all participants utilized
positive spiritual or religious coping. Pargament (2002) defined positive
religious coping as the following:
[It] includes forms stemming from a secure relationship with God, the feeling
of connection with him as well as with the members of a religious
community, a positive belief that it is possible to find meaning in life, and
the feeling that we can learn from hard experiences. (as cited in Simonic &
Klobucar, 2017, p. 1646)
Sometimes a concept becomes clearer when the opposite is defined. Thus,
Pargament (2002) clarified positive spiritual coping by explaining negative
spiritual or religious coping:
Negative religious coping, on the other hand, is marked by a frightened
attitude to God, related to an anxious view of the world and complicated
searching of the meaning of life, frequent inner spiritual tension and internal
battles with oneself, with others and with God or a transcendent being. (as
cited in Simonic & Klobucar, 2017, p. 1646)
All parties involved in this study did not report engaging in negative religious
coping.
d d d d d d The results revealed that positive spiritual coping helped individuals
manage the various impact levels of divorce. Primarily, the relationship with
God helped participants “experience security and support” (Simonic &
Klobucar, 2017, p. 1651). Furthermore, their spirituality or relationship with
God helped individuals to develop a personal resilience and confidence to
persevere through hardship. Simonic and Klobucar explained, “[Participants]
experienced deeper inner transformation, since in the experience of the
relationship with God, they received genuine affirmation, acceptance, and
dignity” (p. 1651). Thus, these individuals were able to receive unconditional
love from God, which aided in redeeming their view and thoughts about
themselves that were fragmented or weakened through the divorce. This
study as well as other research illustrated that positive spiritual coping
through divorce provides “lower levels of depression and anxiety” (Webb,
2010, as cited in Simonic & Klobucar, 2017, p. 1651).
d d d d d d I am not surprised by the findings of this research as it seems
very logical and straightforward. However, I was slightly befuddled by the
lack of human support mentioned in the application of positive spiritual
coping. Certainly, the support of others was mentioned in the definition of
positive spiritual coping; however, the results and conclusion section spoke
very minimally, if at all, about the value of walking with other believers
through divorce, especially the encouragement provided through divorce
support groups. On the other hand, I valued the researchers’ understanding
regarding the breadth and depth of divorce’s devastation to every domain of
an individual’s life: psychologically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially
and relationally. Throughout the article, the Allies model of Entwistle (2015)
was demonstrated as the worldview was inexplicably Christian, but the
principles for providing both an understanding of humans and help to
humans were both psychological and theological in nature. There were no
issues in this article between the two camps of psychology or theology, as
these camps “have a common Author, and describe a single reality”
(Entwistle, 2015, p. 250). d
d d d d d d Their methodological research for this study was based upon
structuralism, but their findings were both functional and relational.
Functionally, the mind and the body influence one another and cannot be
separated. For example, those walking through divorce typically have
symptoms of depression, which impact the mind and the body, as well as
relational domains. Relationally, positive spiritual coping places a primacy on
an individual’s relationship with God. This relationship is paramount to
coming through a major stressor like divorce with both resilience and self-
acceptance. Divorce can fragment one’s self-concept. If an individual will
utilize positive spiritual coping, which is seeing God and one’s self rightly (as
deeply loved and accepted instead of unloved from divorce), then relational
transformation of the self can occur. The researchers evaluated in depth
one’s relationship with self and with God in this study. In both relationships,
positive spiritual coping provided adaptive habits of depending upon God for
one’s needs, which can support the individual through, not only the major
stressor of divorce, but also other hardships in the future.
References
Entwistle, D. N. (2015). Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity:
An introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of
integration (3rd ed.). Wipf & Stock Publishers.
Simonic, B., & Klobucar, N. R. (2017). Experiencing positive religious coping
in the process of divorce: A qualitative study. Journal of Religion and Health,
56(5), 1644-1654. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1007/s10943-016-0230-y
