Resilience and Growth

Clergy members may be able to help Service members or Veterans by encouraging behaviors that are associated with resilience and growth. It is likely that spirituality and religiousness provide a foundation for resilient coping in the face of difficult traumatic event(s) and loss events through a meaning-making process. Spirituality also plays a role in coping with grief and loss.

In their review of the role of religion and spirituality in adjustment following bereavement, Wortman and Park⁸ noted that although many of the studies they reviewed have limitations that prevent making causal inferences, generally positive correlations were found for many dimensions of spirituality and positive psychological outcomes. They also noted that making meaning from a loved one's death appeared to be an important pathway by which spirituality and positive health outcomes were associated.

Thus positive religious coping (e.g., spiritual support, positive religious reframing of stressors, and spiritual connectedness) can help buffer major life stresses, while negative religious coping (e.g., difficulties and anger with God, negative encounters with other believers, and internal religious guilt and doubt) is frequently associated with worse outcomes^9-12.

How Clergy Can Support Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth

Clergy members can play a significant role helping trauma survivors build resilience and identify positive changes related to trauma. The following are some suggestions of ways clergy can be helpful. These were recommendations for a posttraumatic growth component of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, a soldier resilience program created by the US Army.

• Educate survivors that posttraumatic growth is a process that occurs over time, and encourage patience and persistence in the journey toward meaning-making.
• Help individuals understand that it is normal to have a response to traumatic events and that these reactions can be a precursor to posttraumatic growth.
• Encourage people to learn skills in managing strong emotions, such as anxiety. This can be through spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, or mindfulness, or through mental health techniques such as guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation.
• Create a safe place where people can gain comfort with self-disclosure, and with allowing others to provide emotional and spiritual support.
• Work with survivors to examine their values and beliefs to develop robust life principles that can accommodate future challenges.