b b b 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).
b b b b b b b 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.
b b b b b b b 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.
b b b b b b b 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).
b b b b b b b 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). b
b b b b b b b 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
