Full Description
In Biblical Psychotherapy, Kalman J. Kaplan and Paul Cantz offer a new approach to suicide prevention based on biblical narratives that is designed to overcome the suicidogenic patterns in Greek and Roman stories implicit in modern mental health. More than sixteen suicides and self-mutilations emerge in the twenty-six surviving tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides and countless others occurred in Greek and Roman lives. In contrast, only six suicides are found in the Hebrew Scriptures, in addition to a number of suicide-prevention narratives. Kaplan and Cantz reclaim life-enhancing biblical narratives as alternatives to matched suicidal stories in Greek and Roman society with regard to seven evidence-based risk factors. These biblical narratives are employed to treat fourteen patients fitting into the outlined Graeco-Roman suicidal syndromes and to provide an in-depth positive psychology aimed at promoting life rather than simply preventing suicide.
Contents
Chapter 1: The Relevance of Biblical Narratives in Mental Health
Chapter 2: Biblical Psychology: Positive Psychology and Beyond
Chapter 3: A Brief History of Views of Suicide: Biblical versus Greek Perspectives
Chapter 4: Seven Evidence-Based Risk Factors for Suicide
Chapter 5: Elijah against Ajax: Constructively Dealing with Experience of Being Isolated
Chapter 6: Job against Zeno: Constructively Dealing with Need for Meaning
Chapter 7: David against Coriolanus: Constructively Dealing with the Experience of Exile
Chapter 8: Jonah against Narcissus: Constructively Becoming Oneself with Others
Chapter 9: Moses against Oedipus: Constructively Requesting and Accepting Help in One's Life Mission
Chapter 10: Rebecca against Phaedra: Constructively Dealing with Feelings of Possessiveness with One's Offspring
Chapter 11: Ruth against Antigone: Constructively Dealing with a Dysfunctional Family of Origin
