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.4 "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).4Psychology and Christianity: Five views(2nd4ed.).
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–
166.4https://doi.org/10.31920/2634-3665/2020/v9n3a8 4 (Links to an
external site.)
4Slack, Donia P. “Trauma and Coping Mechanisms Exhibited by Forensic
Science Practitioners: A Literature Review.” Forensic science international.
2 (2020): 310–316. Web.
