Trauma Psychology – Coping Mechanisms
I enjoyed reading Johnson's book again. In Johnson's book he quotes, "For the
Christian, the science of psychology and the art of counseling are fundamentally
religious enterprises, as is all of life (Johnson, 2010, p. 311).
To me, I would agree on this quote to a certain extent. Yes, the science of
psychology could be a religious enterprise given in the right context and it's a
beautiful thing to learn in more detail how everything works. The art of counseling
can also be a religious enterprise as the holy spirit leads and guides you and the
bible gives us instruction in life.
What does this quote look like in my research area? My research area is Trauma
Psychology with an emphasis of the healing portion and coping techniques from
an integration standpoint in Christianity and Psychology. This means that through
a religious lens coping mechanisms both in psychology and Christianity can bring
about healing.
In the article, "Trauma, psychosocial factors and coping mechanisms among first-
generation Rwandan refugees living in Zambia", Mwanamwambwa et al talks
about coping mechanisms. a "The literature suggests that religious beliefs, social
support, and personal qualities aid the refugees in coping with negative emotions
(Mwanamwambwa et al, 2020)." You can see there is a mixture of both
Psychology and Christianity.
Religious beliefs like the bible, support from church, prayer, the holy spirit guiding
you and much more can play a big part in your healing for trauma. Also,
understanding your qualities, how your brain works, why you do what you do from
a scientific standpoint can also help aid in your healing process.
In another article called, "Trauma and Coping Mechanisms Exhibited by Forensic
Science Practitioners: A Literature Review," by Slack, talk about humor, exercise,
prayer, meditation, and mindfulness all play a part of the coping mechanisms.
Again, you can see a mixture of Christianity and Psychology which goes back to
what John's quote said, "For the Christian, the science of psychology and the art
of counseling are fundamentally religious enterprises, as is all of life (Johnson,
2010, p. 311)."
In the videos I listened to in this course, I got a better understanding of the
integration view and it made me want to lean towards the Christian view as I
don’t want Psychology to be the leading guide and Christianity a secondary factor
where we are trying to squeeze our views of Christianity into Psychology, but for
this research area, it would make sense to have both Psychology and Christianity.
I feel like you can still recover from one side of the spectrum but having both is
very valuable to one’s healing.
References
Johnson, E. L. (2010). Psychology and Christianity: Five views (2nd ed.). IVP
Academic.
Mwanamwambwa, V., & Pillay, B. J. (2020). Trauma, psychosocial factors, and
coping mechanisms among first-generation Rwandan refugees living in Zambia.
Ubuntu,
9(3), 145-145–166. https://doi.org/10.31920/2634-3665/2020/v9n3a8 Links to
an external site.
Slack, Donia P. “Trauma and Coping Mechanisms Exhibited by Forensic Science
Practitioners: A Literature Review.” Forensic science international. 2 (2020): 310–
316. Web.
