Building Spiritual Fortitude and Resilience Following Disaster: Synthesizing the Contributions of Positive Psychology and Religion/Spirituality

Abstract

This chapter examines the intersections of positive psychology and religion/spirituality in the context of disasters. We review the salience of religious/spiritual (R/S) processes in coping with mass trauma and summarize several strength-based disaster recovery theories that contribute to a holistic understanding of survivors’ and communities’ adaptation processes. Building on this review, we propose and describe the systemic model of Disaster Spiritual Fortitude and Resilience (DSFR). This is the first spiritually integrated disaster recovery model that (a) captures both strengths and vulnerabilities across holistic domains of human experience while also (b) considering across-time interactional effects between the individual and their multilevel socioecological context (at interpersonal, community, and larger societal levels). Implications for practitioners and community leaders working in disaster and humanitarian contexts are provided, along with recommendations for guiding science, practice, and policymaking.

“Since I’ve Been Ill, I Live Better”: The Emergence of Latent Spirituality in the Biographical Pathways of Illness

“…Indeed, recourse to spirituality can open up perspectives of meaning by which disaster survivors overcome the suffering of the present moment and re-establish a state of well-being by leveraging feelings of hope and group cohesion (Akbar 2019;Lalani et al 2021). A focus on the spiritual dimension in crisis experiences enables caregivers to design interventions with the aim of supporting affected populations and coping in the short-and long-term post-traumatic phases (Captari et al 2023), according to guidelines prepared for physicians, nurses, psychologists, religious groups and humanitarian and voluntary associations such as the Red Cross working in emergency settings (Roberts and Ashley 2008).…”

Experience of Death-Related Trauma in Women: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…The thought of death as God's will may lessen their pain of dead person (Laurence, 2020). The second most essential elements observed in Pakistani and Islamic culture are the rituals they perform for the departed souls, such as charity and reciting Quran (Captari et al, 2023;Sultana et al, 2022). These rituals give emotional comfort and feelings of relatedness to the people they lost (Khawaja & Khawaja, 2019).…”