“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” This quote by Carl Jung demonstrates the statement that one can heal from trauma to become integrated and whole. Oftentimes, the healing of trauma and traversing the “many dark nights of the soul” can increase one’s capacity for love and service, as well as heightened spirituality, transformation and integration. In this paper, I will address these issues from a psychodynamic viewpoint, namely integration theory by Carl Jung (1962) . I will substantiate this statement with quantitative studies as well as writings of qualified authors in the field of trauma, spirituality and integration, and explain the concepts of trauma, post-traumatic growth and spirituality.

Negative life events (trauma) challenge one’s concept about self, others, the world and God (Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Kaufman, 2002). After experiencing a traumatic event, individuals must resolve the paradox of why a God, who is all-loving, knowing and, and powerful, allows suffering to occur (Webb, Sink et al 2010). This struggle can strengthen or strain an individual’s relationship with God (Shaw, Joseph et al 2005).

Post-traumatic growth, according to O’Rourke et al (2007), who reviewed 12 quantitative measures, and facilitated clients’ transitions through adversity, state:
“ post-traumatic growth is a salient human experience for those who are interested in spirituality and religiosity. Post-traumatic growth is also an important component to understanding trauma because it defines the possibility of positive outcomes from traumatic experiences that had previously been considered only in their relationship to subsequent distress and dysfunction.”

I will further explain Spirituality as defined by Wikipedia:
… in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. A perceived sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself….Equally important, spirituality relates to matters of sanity and of psychological health. Spirituality may involve perceiving or wishing to perceive life as more important (“higher”), more complex or more integrated with one’s world view; as contrasted with the merely sensual. Many spiritual traditions, accordingly, share a common spiritual theme: the “path”, “work”, practice, or tradition of perceiving and internalizing one’s “true” nature and relationship to the rest of existence God, creation (the universe), or life), and of becoming free of the lesser egoic self (or ego) in favor of being more fully one’s “true” “Self“.

Integration according to Carl Jung (1962), who went through his own personal experience with trauma, tragedy and introspection, defines it as ” individuation is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective unconscious is brought into consciousness (by means of dreams, active imagination, free association) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche to take place.”

Besides achieving physical and mental health, those who have advanced towards individuation are those who tend to be harmonious, mature and responsible, with values such as freedom, justice with a good understanding about the workings of human nature, the universe and the Divine.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.