Catholic Eucharistic Anamnesis, Jewish Remembrance of Liberation at Pesach, and the Healing of First Responders Suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Joel Warden, PhD, Catholic Scholar in Residence, St Francis College, Brooklyn
First Responders to emergencies (e.g., firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians) encounter situations of violence and trauma regularly in their jobs. Social-scientific enquiry has posited that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related ailments are endemic in this population. Yet, those who care for these First Responders have found it challenging to address the effects of trauma in these personnel. The author of this proposal works in a pastoral capacity in service to this population and so has been well placed to reflect on the need for practical care for these individuals.
This paper will, first, recognize interesting theological correspondences between the Catholic notion of anamnesis and the Jewish practice of salvific remembrance during the celebrations of Passover as communal actions of memory. The research of Father Edward Kilmartin into the historical development of sacramental memory in the Eucharist in the West and the commentary and meditations on the prayers of the Passover seder ceremony’s ritual Haggadah by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks will be at the heart of this investigation.
Second, having established a comparative-theological frame for discerning meaning in past trauma, this frame will be used to examine and critique the psycho-dynamic process of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). By this method, contemporary mental health practitioners lead individuals who have witnessed or undergone significant traumatic events (such as those encountered by First Responders in the course of their duties) through a physical and emotional remembrance of pain in order to overcome it. Proponents of CISD say that the process offers good success in helping personnel overcome symptoms associated with PTSD (e.g., flashbacks of the event that caused the emotional trauma, increased anxiety or lethargy). Detractors claim that the process of remembering the stress-creating traumatic event actually increases and prolongs the trauma by keeping it active in the person’s mind. This paper will engage the debate by recognizing, in particular, how the process of CISD is intended as a way to locate the memory of trauma as a shared and potentially salvific event.
Third, the comparative-theological frame of saving remembrance will be used to argue that the debate surrounding CISD points to a more fundamental need to address the effects of First Responders’ experience of trauma while they attempt to assist individuals who are experiencing traumatic events themselves as emergency medicine patients or victims of crime. The wisdom of the religious traditions is that by being conscious of the communal nature of these experiences, shared meaning arises which can assist in the healing and overcoming of trauma.
This paper will, first, recognize interesting theological correspondences between the Catholic notion of anamnesis and the Jewish practice of salvific remembrance during the celebrations of Passover as communal actions of memory. The research of Father Edward Kilmartin into the historical development of sacramental memory in the Eucharist in the West and the commentary and meditations on the prayers of the Passover seder ceremony’s ritual Haggadah by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks will be at the heart of this investigation.
Second, having established a comparative-theological frame for discerning meaning in past trauma, this frame will be used to examine and critique the psycho-dynamic process of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). By this method, contemporary mental health practitioners lead individuals who have witnessed or undergone significant traumatic events (such as those encountered by First Responders in the course of their duties) through a physical and emotional remembrance of pain in order to overcome it. Proponents of CISD say that the process offers good success in helping personnel overcome symptoms associated with PTSD (e.g., flashbacks of the event that caused the emotional trauma, increased anxiety or lethargy). Detractors claim that the process of remembering the stress-creating traumatic event actually increases and prolongs the trauma by keeping it active in the person’s mind. This paper will engage the debate by recognizing, in particular, how the process of CISD is intended as a way to locate the memory of trauma as a shared and potentially salvific event.
Third, the comparative-theological frame of saving remembrance will be used to argue that the debate surrounding CISD points to a more fundamental need to address the effects of First Responders’ experience of trauma while they attempt to assist individuals who are experiencing traumatic events themselves as emergency medicine patients or victims of crime. The wisdom of the religious traditions is that by being conscious of the communal nature of these experiences, shared meaning arises which can assist in the healing and overcoming of trauma.