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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.
Torah Perspectives on the Twelve Steps
"Six Additional Torah Concepts to Supplement the Twelve Steps"
I have learned to value the Twelve Steps as providing a basic psycho-social-spiritual foundation for understanding addictions and recovery. The steps are compatible with the Seven Mitzvos that were given to the sons of Noach after the Flood. As learned from the Torah, they delineate the universal laws of morality that are based on the foundation of faith in the God of the Bible.[1] Chazal also teach that דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה, "Derech eretz, or basic morality, preceded the Torah" (Vayikra Rabbah 9:3).
In this light, it is taught in the name of Rav Chaim Vital, the main student of Rav Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal), that "character traits provide the principal preparation for the 613 commandments, whether in respect of observing or transgressing them."[2]
Working extensively with Jewish addicts since the mid 1980s, I have seen the need and possibility to supplement the "official Twelve Steps" with six additional Torah concepts. It has been shown in this chapter that the Twelve Steps can be understood from a Torah perspective and are basically compatible with Judaism. Nonetheless, it is not possible to avoid the historical fact that the steps and the worldview upon which they were based were developed by those whose faith was not Jewish. Thus, in the Nachas Ruach approach, I utilize six additional Jewish concepts in the Chai program (12 + 6 = 18 = chai) when working with groups and in individual psychotherapy, in a way that enhances the program for many Jewish participants.
These are the six concepts that the Nachas Ruach approach has incorporated:
1. "Beloved is man, who was created in the Divine image" (Pirkei Avos 3:18).
"חביב אדם שנברא בצלם, חיבה יתרה נודעת לו שנברא בצלם שנאמר: כי בצלם אלוקים עשה את האדם"
2. "Taste and see that God is good. Happy is the man who trusts in Him" (Psalms 34:9).
"טעמו וראו כי טוב ה' אשרי הגבר יחסה בו"
3. "Rabban Gamliel used to say... Find yourself a Rav" (Pirkei Avos 1:16).
"רבן גמליאל היה אומר עשה לך רב"
4. "And the study of Torah is equivalent to them all" (Maseches Shabbos 127).
"ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם"
5. "You shall be Holy, for Holy am I, Hashem your God" (Leviticus 19:2).
"קדושים תהיו כי קדוש ה' אלוקיכם"
6. "Do not return to Egypt..." (Deuteronomy 17:16) - relapse prevention.
"לא-ישיב את העם מצרימה...לא תוסיפו לשוב בדרך הזה עוד"
[1] Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 56a.
[2] Rav Chaim Vital, Shaarei Kedushah 1:2.