{ Meaning Making and Disaster The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Health Outcomes and Resilience Following Trauma Nathan H. White Durham University, UK

 Meaning and Disaster  Religion, Spirituality, and Disaster: Does it Make a Difference?  Challenges  How Can it be Applied? Outline

{ Disaster and the Individual Disasters ‘not only inflict physical damage and loss of life but also leave emotional and spiritual wounds that need healing before victims can rebuild their lives’ (Koenig, 2006, p. ix).

Spiritual and Religious Coping

Meaning and Disaster ‘Is there meaning in natural disasters?’ (Adeney-Risakotta, 2009)

{ Meaning and Psychological Integration ‘Meaning helps people to psychologically integrate traumatic experiences into their existing worldviews’ (Koenig, 2006, p. 3).

‘The provision of meaning and order to the chaos of existence is a vital function of religion, as noted by the anthropologist Dr Clifford Geertz (Geertz, 1993, pp. 87–125), and may be indispensable in enabling both physical and psychological survival of the most terrifying and life- threatening experiences, as the psychiatrist Dr Viktor E. Frankl famously explained (Frankl, 1964). Belief in a loving and saving source of being, a reliever of suffering and a redeemer of our worst travails, can sustain us in the face of pain and fear of death’ (Levin, 2009). Meaning and Religion

  Positive worldview   Purpose   Psychological integration   Hope   Personal empowerment   Sense of control   Answers to ultimate questions   Guidance for making good decisions   Social support   Role models for how to endure suffering (Koenig, 2006, pp. 39–42) Ways Religion and Spirituality Aid Recovery

Positive   Connectedness to the Divine   Meaning-making   Sense of control   Comfort from relation to the Divine and others   Openness to change   Taking time to reflect Negative   Anger at God   Using religious activities to distract from difficulties (King et al., 2013; Pargament et al., 2011; Pargament et al., 2000) Positive and Negative Religious Coping

Communities of Faith ‘Increased social support and secure attachment has been shown to decrease the negative effects of trauma and increase resiliency’ (Dueck and Byron, 2012, p. 999).

Challenges ‘In many disaster prone regions, religion is an essential element of culture and must be carefully considered in the planning process, and not simply dismissed as a symptom of ignorance, superstition and backwardness’ (Chester, 2005, p. 319).

{ Support individual and community structures already in place Appropriately integrate religion and spirituality into recovery efforts Develop relationships with and train faith communities Disaster Relief Applications

Conclusion