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Spiritual Anorexia Starving for Meaning and Purpose: the Next Generation of Diagnosis and a Prescription for Hope

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Spiritual Anorexia Starving for Meaning and Purpose: the Next Generation of Diagnosis and a Prescription for Hope Spiritual Anorexia Starving for Meaning and Purpose: The Next Generation of Diagnosis and a Prescription for Hope A Paper Presented to The Faculty of the Alfred Adler Graduate School In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Arts in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy By: Michelle Saari 2004 2 Acknowledgements Without the help 1 insightr prayers and support of so many people 1 this process would not have been completed. Thank you to the faculty members who have imparted more than knowledge and experience to my education: Dan Zenga, Dan Haugen 1 Bob Bartholow 1 and Trish Anderson. To my family 1 thanks could never be enough: Daryl 1 Kathy 1 and Jason Saari 1 Gilda Richards, Pete 1 Carol 1 Jim and Robin Licari. With unending gratitude to God... 3 Table of Contents Abstract Introduction The Problem Psychology Philosophy Theology My Hybrid Theory for Change Areas Requiring Further Study Summary Conclusion References 4 Abstract Mental illness and increasing reliance on psychopharmacological interventions are placing a strain on social service delivery systems, and taking a toll on relationships. Curiously there seems to be more diagnosis and treatment in the United States than any other culture. In a country with more opportunities and wealth than any other, we also see a hunger for "more." It is precisely this desire for more and the journey people take to find meaning and purpose that prompted me to research this paper. The timeless problem of searching for meaning has been compounded with pop culture demands and created a generation of starved for both meaning and purpose. How can we feed the starvation in a healthy way and maintain a balance of emotional, physical and spiritual health? In this paper I look at the spiritually anorexic client, the development of the problem, and contributions from three schools of thought. In the theoretical analysis of the contributions of psychology, philosophy and theology, I will propose a hybrid theory to help treat and encourage today's client. 5 "Jackson, Robert. Mr. Robert Jackson died yesterday of complications from doing a lifetime of crap that he didn't really want to do. His condition was further complicated because he also failed to do much, if any, of what he did want to do. Experts reported that he died from cramming someone else's idea of life into his body, his brain, and his life. Attempts by Mr. Jackson to fill the voids with work, cars, excessive eating, alcohol, three wives, two thousand rounds of golf, and meeting everyone else's expectancies but his own, were dismally unsuccessful. Unfortunately, this all took so much out of Mr. Jackson that he was just worn flat out and died about twenty years too soon." (McGraw 2001) 6 Introduction Common threads across varied disciplines are not new and not unusual. The process of drawing new and fresh connections is at the very core of the mind and learning process. However, the wisdom shared and affirmed by these commonalities is under-utilized. The cliche's about the world going to hell due to the impact of culture on our children is tired. It is as tired as the never ending, seemingly recycled speeches that make their appearances every election year. I would not be the first or the last person to comment on the state of the modern western world and all its pros and cons. The debate is timeless. The difference in my theoretical quilt is that I have knitted ideas from a three select disciplines, and propose a hybrid model for change and results in the therapeutic process. My proposal for therapeutic intervention is a combination of Adlerian Psychological theory, Existential Philosophy, and fundamental Christian Theology. Achieving a balance and agreement between the inner and outer self is crucial for the overall health and well being of the individual. 7 Seeking out, repairing and reorienting beliefs in the cognitive schema and life style are part of the Adlerian contribution. Exploring time-tested effectiveness of Biblical virtues can also set a framework and clear path for an individual to take. Healthy boundaries, safe environment for growth/change and accurate and functional knowledge of one's self in possibility and limitation can transform the psyche and bridge the way to a sense of peace and overall mental health. Like a scene from a movie there is a damp chill in the air, a slight drizzle and clouds circling in the sky. Taps is played in the distance, and then rifles fire in honor of a life. When the American flag and a salute were exchanged on the morning of my grandmother's funeral, life met me full on. For a very surreal moment I was face to face with mortality and meaning, as if they had snuck up on me. As I stared at the rose lying on the dirt I reflected on the profound impact my grandmother Carol made on so many people. As I saw the marble grave markers everywhere I was struck by the profound. 8 So many relationships, memories, and choices result in a final resting place and one hour of ceremony. What is life truly about? Is it possible to make it to that overcast morning and realize that you or your loved one may have missed it? Although a little extreme, somewhere between the strength and struggle of life lie a story and a series of choices. A legacy is left and the world is changed. Death is inevitable, but living is not. Living is an active choice and a journey. Living with purpose and sense of meaning is no accident. It requires hard work, choices, and a level of self-awareness sometimes not for the faint of heart. The passage of time between birth and death is of unknown length and full of decisions. What we do, how we live, what we pursue, accomplish and cultivate is our unique choice and of our own free will. The question plaguing humanity, and one that plagued my heart that day, was "what is the real meaning of life?" The human race is a people with tradition and fleeting fads. Each of us is personally held accountable for our participation/non-participation in it. 9 Those pivotal moments or events that spur us to ask those deep and personal existential questions are key change agents. They can be alarming enough that someone has a moment of clarity that they need help, want to change, or strive to be more. A moment of complete brokenness and deep vulnerability that rocks us to the core is the invitation and opportunity to reach for more and be more. I would assert that getting to a point in the helping process where a client asks those kinds of questions is the only time the path to deep healing can occur. Serious persistent mental illness can start well before these moments, and due to a variety of factors from environmental, biological to socialization. At times these questions generating a "crisis of faith" are the trigger points for intervention, and the birthplace of hope. For the purposes of this paper, I am not including potential biological and organic causes of mental illness in my discussion of symptoms, interventions or techniques. The global community knows all generations for various advancements and contributions. My "generation" so to speak is no different. 10 The great things that have been contributed in the way of scientific, medical and technological advancements are unmatched. We go faster, further and do so more efficiently than any of our predecessors. Even still, what I find so intriguing is that we still ask the same questions that have been with us for thousands of years. "Who am I?" "What is the meaning of life?" and so on. Buried in those questions is a growing list of diagnoses in the upcoming revisions of the DSM (Diagnostic Statistic Manual) . Within those questions also lies pharmacological intervention, insurance premiums, broken families, increased physical disease, spiritual crises, suicide, lost productivity and a multitude of complex issues. One would think in a time with almost endless options, opportunities, and potential, people would have found the elusive meaning to living by now. Amazingly, we have not found it, and so we continue to struggle, sometimes to new depths. Wade Clark Roof 1999 wrote an interesting book called, Spiritual Marketplace, baby boomers and the remaking of American religion. I will refer to this book often throughout this paper. 11 Roof addresses this growing problem, "Many within this generation feel they have been both blessed and cursed: blessed because in their lifetime they have had more opportunities for education and better-paying jobs than did their parents, but also cursed because no matter how hard they work or succeed in jobs and careers, life continues to be pretty tough (Roof 1999) . " The current American generation has more wealth, education, and longevity than ever before, and yet is consuming psychopharmacological intervention and self help at astronomical rates. What is happening? People are always striving for some type of superiority and meaning based upon their own definition of success. The perception of success is rooted in early childhood development, cultural, environmental, social experience. The formed character is never 100% actualized although the more rooted and bonded in others we are, typically the healthier we are. 12 The rise and fall and changing face of the American family dynamic, complexity of urban sprawl and the terms such as soccer mom and metro sexual still fail to accurately compartmentalize the depth of the human spirit. Such richness lies dormant in old texts scratched out by wordy philosophers, prolific theological teachings or the practical yet insightful writings of pre-twenty first century psychologists.
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