Reconciling Disaster and Deity: Trauma, Spirituality, and Growth in the Context of Natural and Technological Disasters Induced by Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change increases the risk that a person will experience a natural or technological disaster in their lifetime (IPCC, Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contributions of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007). While the impact of such disasters on physical life is typically a primary consideration, the potential mental health effects of living through or with the threat of catastrophic climate experiences cannot be ignored. There may be significant risk to neglecting these mental health concerns (Gifford, Can Psychol 49(4): 273–280, 2008; Moser, More bad news: The risk of neglecting emotional responses to climate change information. In: Moser SC, Dilling L (eds) Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 64–80, 2007 ; Weissbecker, Introduction: Climate change and human Well-being. In: Weissbecker I (ed) Climate change and human Well-being: Global challenges and opportunities. Springer, New York, pp 1–15, 2011). Mental health professionals have a vital role to play in the response to a changing climate. There is abundant research to suggest that positive psychology opens up space for mental health professionals to work towards building a community’s and an individual’s sense of resiliency and potential for growth both before and after catastrophic climate-related events. This chapter also considers the unique role that religion and spirituality plays in trauma, meaning making, and growth in the context of climate change-induced natural and technological disasters. Drawing upon current research from disaster mental health, positive psychology, and spirituality, and using Park’s (2016) meaning-making model of coping in the context of disaster, three points are argued: the posttraumatic growth literature can and should inform disaster mental health; natural and technological disasters hold psychological and spiritual questions that must be explored together; and competencies in the psychological treatment of survivors of natural and technological disaster must be growth oriented and spiritually informed.