photo credit: Jose Chavez
The American Psychiatric Association conducted its annual poll on the mental health of adults in America, and its findings may not surprise you: A lot of Americans are feeling anxious! … and it seems that there’s an upward trend of feeling more anxious in the current year than in the previous year. Those polled mentioned multiple concerns regarding current events, and were particularly worried about the economy, the upcoming 2024 U.S. election, and gun violence, to name just a few. Even though there’s a lot on Americans’ minds, they’re largely not utilizing professional mental healthcare services to help manage the mounting anxiety, so suggest the results from the survey. (American Psychiatric Association, 2024.) Pastors often report to Shepherd Heart that they feel they are on the frontlines of American mental healthcare, whether they want to be, or not.
So, how do we and our parishioners have resilience in the face of major challenges and life stressors? Well, “resilience” has been described as successful adaptation to life’s challenges, vicissitudes, and crises, especially through the ways that we practice behavioral, mental, emotional openness and flexibility to adjust. The good news is that resilience can be optimized like any skillset that’s practiced and exercised. Coping strategies, worldview (or faith, spirituality, or religion) and friendships/social connections can help us be resilient (American Psychological Association Dictionary)
In a recent talk given in Southern California, at the San Bernardino Catholic Diocesan Conference on Life, Dignity, and Justice, Shepherd Heart’s Director, Rev. Dr. Hofstetter spoke on resilience.
She discussed stress-coping simulaneously from three approaches: Bottom-Up (soma to psyche), Top-Down (grounding from a higher perspective), and Side-to-side (community and social connections).
Everyone at the conference got out of their seats and engaged in breathing exercises and mindful movements together. She discussed the importance of ruah/pneuma (these words mean both “breath” & “spirit” in both Hebrew and Greek, languages of the Old and New Testaments). The act of exhaling, in particular, is found to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. In contrast to our so-called “fight-of flight (or freeze)” sympathetic autonomic system, which is meant to keep us alert and alive in the face of danger, the “rest & reserve” parasympathetic nervous system that facilitates things like play, creativity, nurturance of young, bonding with mates, etc… (cf. van der Kolk; Carlson). Mindful movement, recognizing our limits as gifts (Scazzero, 2010), and touch– literally reaching out for those you love– are powerfully important, especially in times of stress.
A Top-Down approach takes into consideration utilizing our prefrontal cortex (i.e., the meaning-maker part of our brain) to help us interpret, organize, prepare/plan, and strategize, when our amygdalas (part of the limbic system –or our “emotional brain”– responsible for fear and aggression) take over. The frontal cortex allows us to plan, predict, and prepare for the challenges ahead. We can use our prefrontal cortex (arguably the most sophisticated aspect of human cognition… part of what makes humans the imago dei…?) to calendar, schedule, be proactive and make things as manageable as possible. It seeks understanding, knowability, and predictablity in the service of a sense of security in the world. Our worldview and faith persepctive can also give us a sense of trust in a benevolent God who loves us, no matter how difficult things may be… a God who is with us.
Finally, we cope side-to-side. We need one another. When God made Adam, it is curious that God told “the human” that it’s “no good” (lo tov) to be alone, whereas God called humanity itself “very good” (tov meod)… God said this to the human… when God was with the human. We specifically need human companionship to thrive. Sometimes, we need more than help from family and friends to get us by. Our word for therapy comes from the New Testatment word for Jesus’ healing (therapeuein). Finding a therapist who understands what you’re going through in turbulent times is part of God’s healing work, and it is good to utilize it when you need it.