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The 'Nachas Ruach' Treatment Model
Excerpts from "Nachas Ruach: Torah-Based Psychotherapy and Tools for Growth and Healing"
Preface:
A Way Out of Addiction for Orthodox Jews?
From Internet addiction to marital and family problems, from "teens at risk" to the psychological challenges facing those who are frum from birth and baalei teshuvah, today's changing world can be a confusing one. The religious Jewish community is also not immune to many sensitive contemporary issues, which can no longer be ignored. Yet sadly, some people who need psychological advice refrain from seeking it, believing that contemporary psychology and psychiatry are antagonistic to Yiddishkeit.
This important work by well-known therapist Dr. Naftali Fish offers a solid conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between Torah and psychology - including the Twelve Step program - showing clearly where they are compatible and where they are not. Dr. Fish is uniquely qualified to bridge this gap, as an Orthodox Jew grounded in Torah Judaism and the wisdom of our sages, and as a licensed clinical psychologist living in Jerusalem, with over twenty-five years' experience working with a variety of clinical issues, including the treatment of addictions and healing the inner wounded child. Here he presents the Nachas Ruach Treatment Model (NRTM), an innovative, effective approach that integrates Torah values and spirituality within the context of professional psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, as illustrated by intriguing case studies.
This book is a must-read for all professionals in the field of mental health, as well as for rabbis, educators, students studying psychology, and educated lay readers. Blending theory and practice, this book also provides practical tools and exercises for personal growth that anyone can gain from in their daily lives.
Preface:
A Way Out of Addiction for Orthodox Jews?
From Internet addiction to marital and family problems, from "teens at risk" to the psychological challenges facing those who are frum from birth and baalei teshuvah, today's changing world can be a confusing one. The religious Jewish community is also not immune to many sensitive contemporary issues, which can no longer be ignored. Yet sadly, some people who need psychological advice refrain from seeking it, believing that contemporary psychology and psychiatry are antagonistic to Yiddishkeit.
This important work by well-known therapist Dr. Naftali Fish offers a solid conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between Torah and psychology - including the Twelve Step program - showing clearly where they are compatible and where they are not. Dr. Fish is uniquely qualified to bridge this gap, as an Orthodox Jew grounded in Torah Judaism and the wisdom of our sages, and as a licensed clinical psychologist living in Jerusalem, with over twenty-five years' experience working with a variety of clinical issues, including the treatment of addictions and healing the inner wounded child. Here he presents the Nachas Ruach Treatment Model (NRTM), an innovative, effective approach that integrates Torah values and spirituality within the context of professional psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, as illustrated by intriguing case studies.
This book is a must-read for all professionals in the field of mental health, as well as for rabbis, educators, students studying psychology, and educated lay readers. Blending theory and practice, this book also provides practical tools and exercises for personal growth that anyone can gain from in their daily lives.
"Six Additional Torah Concepts to Supplement the 12 Steps"
Concept 2
2. Taste and see that God is good. Happy is the man who trusts in Him - Psalms 34:9
One of the issues that the Twelve Steps does not address explicitly is the positive need to have joy in life. It is true the program teaches that the ideal goal of recovery is to be "clean and serene" rather than just being a "dry drunk." Achieving serenity is a very important outgrowth of staying clean, and the program deserves credit for this awareness. My understanding of what the program means by serenity is that the addict in recovery will begin to live life in a healthier and more mature way; and it is obvious that this is no small achievement. It implies, first of all, that the addict has enough inner strength and self-control to stay clean "one day at a time" and to reorganize his life, which has become unmanageable. The program implicitly recognizes the importance of living in a responsible way, which includes being able to function as a "good enough" participant in family relationships, work, and leisure time situations. This in itself usually allows a person to begin to feel "better about himself" and to have a certain "sense of well-being" and inner satisfaction. The innovation or chiddush of the program is to teach that "normative living" is ultimately the best "high" and is "really enough" without having to expect and need and crave more and more.
This position is congruent with the Torah perspective. However, the Torah also understands the legitimate, deep need for a person to experience genuine pleasure and joy in this world.
The Ramchal begins Mesillas Yesharim by teaching, in the name of the Rabbis: שהאדם לא נברא אלא להתענג על ה' ולהנות מזיו שכינתו, שזהו התענוג האמיתי והעידון הגדול מכל העידונים שיכולים להמצא, "Man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving pleasure from the splendor of His Presence, for this is the true joy and greatest pleasure that can be found."[1]
This experience is attainable in the ultimate sense only in the next world. However, it is possible for every Jew to at times have the sense of "rejoicing in Hashem" also in this world through a sincere committed halachic lifestyle.
In the book of Psalms (34:9), it is written, טעמו וראו כי טוב ה', אשרי הגבר יחסה בו, "Taste and see that God is good." On this verse, the Kuzari teaches that "taste" implies that a Jew can have a real experience of relating to Hashem and thus "sense that He is good."[2]
It has already been asserted in several places in this book that a major contemporary issue challenging the Torah world is how to have pleasure within a normative Torah lifestyle. The next section will begin to clarify the Torah's position on the pleasure principle in contrast to that of contemporary society.
[1] Ramchal, Mesillas Yesharim (Feldheim), p. 16.
[2] Rav Yehudah HaLevi, Kuzari, 1998, Page 145