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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.
Concept 6: Part 1/3
6. Do not return to Egypt... - Deuteronomy 17:16
This concept deals with issues related to relapse prevention. It views the status of a "slave in Egypt" as also being a metaphor for other forms of slavery, including the addictive experience. Just as the Jewish people were slaves to the Egyptians physically, emotionally, and spiritually, addicts are also enslaved to the object of their addiction.
One similarity between Egypt and the addictive experience is that when the Jews first came to Egypt, they were invited by Pharaoh himself to live in the best part of the country: וקחו את אביכם ואת בתיכם ובאו אלי ואתנה לכם את טוב ארץ מצרים ואכלו את חלב הארץ, "Bring your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land" (Genesis 45:18).
Later, Am Yisrael became fully enslaved in Egypt through a gradual process, without fully realizing what was happening until it was too late. Chazal teach that until this time, no slave had ever been able to leave Egypt. The addictive experience is similar in that what the addict later becomes addicted to was often initially experienced as being positive or helpful. For example, a teenager who felt insecure at high school parties learnt that drinking alcohol and getting drunk would help him or her to feel more confident. In its early stages, using drugs, gambling, overeating, and sexual acting out might provide the sense of being a positive solution. Unfortunately, in most cases these behaviors turn out to be only pseudo or false solutions, or even illusions that lead to even deeper difficulties, without ever addressing the cause of the initial problems.
A basic goal of the Twelve Step program is relapse prevention. The ideal goal of the program is to maintain total abstinence "one day at a time" for your whole life. However, addicts are obviously often tempted t o resume the shackles of their addiction. It is clear that there are many forces influencing the addict to "use" again. The Torah also understood the inclination of the Jewish people who clamored to returnto the site of their former enslavement. It is interesting that the Torah will later actually forbid a Jewish king to allow Jews go back to Mitzrayim: "So that he [the king] will not bring the people back to Egypt...for Hashem said to you: You shall not return on this road again" (Deuteronomy 17:16).
The Rambam includes this in the list of negative mitzvos (number 42) listed in Sefer HaMitzvos. [1]
[1] Rambam Sefer HaMitzvos, negative mitzvah #42.