Coping by Remembering

1 / 142 COPING BY REMEMBERING Coping by remembering Introduction Model learning Constructive remembering God images Personality type Positive psychology Empathy training 1 Empathy training 2 Considering stereotypes Historical psychology Remembering for the future 1 Remembering for the future 2 Remembering for the future 3 Remembering for the future 4 Remembering for the future 5 Resume References Copyright 2 / 142 COPING BY REMEMBERING STUDIES IN CONTEXTUAL PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION 3 / 142 INTRODUCTION War children as a core example for multidimensional trauma-coping Besides the cruelties during the war, in 1945, children also suffered in the war, losing their homes and belongings, their parents or older siblings. (Stargardt, 2005 and 2013; Glaesmer & Brähler, 2011). Therefore, research about their experiences is crucial (Bohleber, 2006). In this context, the so-called “skeptical generation”, born in the 1930s (Schelsky, 1957), is a core-sample for such research, because these people suffered as children from bombing, evacuations, and refuge or expulsion, and mostly have to live without father or both parents with significant post-traumatic symptoms, such as panic, depression, weak (gender-) identity (Radebold, 2006). Such persons also avoid remembrance and emotions, and, at the same time, suffer from re-actualizing of such traumatic situations in nightmares, often caused by key-impulses (noises, sounds etc.). The following studies evaluate a particular kind of psychological and autobiographical literature, which emphasizes the religious, psychological, and cultural aspects of experiences and coping strategies of people, who experienced War and after wartime as children in Germany, or of children expelled from Eastern Europe. In particular, it emphasizes the post-traumatic symptoms. It does neither emphasize other War-children of the 20th century or in current wars nor on war-experiences of teenagers or young adults or on the particular situation of Jewish child-experiences during the Holocaust nor any “non-war traumata” of children. When using the term “trauma” a shocking and emotionally overwhelming situation is meant, in which an individual experiences or perceives a threat to his/her physical and/or psychological integrity, resulting in a reaction of intense fear, helplessness or horror (Rothschild, 2000). Concerning this situation, most commonly reported are elevated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety disorders; therefore, the re-experiencing of traumatic memories becomes is a core-phenomenon, and, thus, a core-challenge for coping- strategies (Ehlers & Clark, 2000). Such coping strategies can be illustrated in an elementary form by the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & 4 / 142 Folkman, 1984), which describes coping as a dynamic interchange between a person and the environment to manage a difficult problem or situation (Franzenburg, 2016a). Concerning such coping strategies, religious aspects of this process become important, when rituals, narrations, and symbols are taken into account, which make the coping a more emotional way (Pargament, 1997). Another core-instrument to understand the cognitive aspects of this particular coping is the social learning theory (Bandura, 1986) because perceived coping self-efficacy emerges as a focal mediator of post-traumatic recovery (Benight & Bandura, 2004; Franzenburg, 2015a). Concerning religious coping, particularly collaborative coping involves a sense of mutually sharing by give-and-take interactions with God, while the self-directing style refers to taking control through one’s actions and a heightened sense of personal responsibility provided by God. Finally, the deferring style describes coping by giving the problem, responsibility as well as action, to God (Hathaway & Pargament, 1990). There are, however, also negative patterns of religious coping, which suggest a sense of insecurity in relation to God, such as spiritual discontent, punishing God or demonic reappraisal (Franzenburg, 2015a; Pargament et al., 1998). A further core-aspect within this field of coping is Man’s search for meaning, which was the life-challenge of Victor Frankl. According to his “logo-therapy”, meaning can be discovered by three ways: by creating a work or doing a deed, by experiencing something or encountering someone, and by the attitude people take toward unavoidable suffering, or, when confronted with a hopeless situation, as Frankl experienced as a concentration camp survivor (Frankl, 1975). This leads to the main focus, the situation of former War-children in Germany. Coping with their traumata, they adopted Nazi- „Black education“ and war-virtues for a helpful coping-strategy, in order to become harder (Grundmann, Hoffmeister, Knoth, 2009). One core-trauma, which wounded their heart, is missing basic trust; therefore, they often became unable to show emotions (Naechster, 2014).Thus, evaluating the experiences of former war- children, particular the adaption to German post-war society is seen as a problem and as the challenge to integrate attitudes of new beginning with former Nazi-traditions (Riedesser, 2006), because often non-conformism was taken as a solution, combined with the temptation to hide one’s War- experiences (Franzenburg, 2016a). Such an attitude might have facilitated 5 / 142 intergenerational (authority-) conflicts which could break out and lead to right- wing and authoritarianism-attitudes (Kiess et al., 2014). Because religiously oriented people use to feel as victims after traumatic events, the question of religious orientation, whether primary intrinsic or extrinsic, is crucial (Allport & Ross, 1967; Franzenburg, 2016a). Several studies in Germany have explored the long-term effects of war trauma on the physical and mental health of former War-children, particular interdisciplinary longitudinal studies (Franz, 2006; Franzenburg, 2016a; Schmitt,2007). Concerning the 12 million Germans (mostly from the Eastern territories), who were displaced in WW II, long-term consequences of expulsion and flight in ageing former refugee children also became significant during the last years, particular in association with higher levels of anxiety and depression, and lower levels of life satisfaction and health at ages 70–75 years (Werner, 2012). Overall, displaced former WWII children were exposed to almost twice as many traumatic experiences (including rape) than non displaced children of war. PTSD and poor (self-reported) health were significantly associated with the number of multiple war trauma experienced more than 60 years earlier (Forstmeier et al., 2009; cf. Boothby, 1992; Kuwert, et al., 2008). A number of protective factors appear to moderate the impact of war- related adversities in children, such as a strong bond between the primary caregiver and the child, the mother’s mental health, the availability of additional caregivers, the social support of members in the community who are exposed to the same hardships, especially teachers and peers, a shared sense of values, a religious belief that finds meaning in suffering, the assumption of responsibility for the protection and welfare of others, an internal locus of control, and the use of humour and altruism as defence-mechanisms (Franzenburg, 2016a; Werner, 2012). Religion, thus, becomes involved in such coping processes, when an adolescent encounters problems that impinge on something that is important or significant to him or her (Pargament, 1997). Hence, in the context of reciprocal determinism (Bandura, 1986), a person’s religious coping cognitions are present as a result of the interactions among and between the (religious) coping behaviour of a person and others (e.g. parents and peers) in his or her environment (Franzenburg, 2016a). Therefore, the following studies demonstrate and explain important coping strategies, which underline the key- function of remembrance and resilience. By model learning, constructive God 6 / 142 images, methods of positive and historical psychology, through empathy training, and future-oriented methods of remembering including considering stereotypes, people can learn to cope even with traumatic experiences in a constructive way, which can also be exemplified by the experiences of 1918 and similar situations (Franzenburg, 2018a). By integrating these approaches into a multidimensional model, a kind of “grammar of remembrance” becomes possible, which facilitates coping strategies for situations of any kind (Franzenburg, 2016b; Franzenburg, Ilisko, Verkest, 2018). 7 / 142 MODEL LEARNING One core-coping strategy is vicarious learning by observing the behaviour of others (Bandura, 1986). As applied to religious coping, when the observed behaviours are religious in nature, the observer forms religious cognitions and symbols that represent his or her developing repertoire of religious thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and judgements about the observed religious behaviour, the situation, and the environment, in which it occurred. These are cognitively stored as an option for religious coping at a later time; vicariously encoded as symbols and cognitions (Bandura, 1986) related to religious coping, are also the observed risks and benefits of the behaviour: the age, sex, race, and background of the model, similarities to the model, and the degree, to which the model is admired (Franzenburg, 2016a). In general, the models most available to late adolescents are parents and close friends, because these are the people with whom adolescents typically

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