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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.
"The Fourth Step"
"We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."[1]
This step requires the recovering addict to try to honestly understand the pscho-social-spiritual sources of his addiction. This step clearly overlaps with the Torah's concept of "self-evaluation"or cheshbon hanefesh. This means that people need to try to understand themselves and their behavior on a deeper level and have accurate self-awareness of both their strengths and their limitations. This goal is stressed in the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avos) in theMishnah.
In this area there is much Torah literature, including such classics as Ramchal'sMesillas Yesharim, which explains how increased self-awareness means working on underlying "character defects" and not only enhanced psychological self-knowledge.
[1] Narcotics Anonymous NA Blue Book, p. 27.
"The Fifth Step"
"We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."[1]
The Rambam writes in Hilchos Teshuvah 2:5 that it is recommended to tell other people about one's shortcomings regarding mitzvos between man and his fellowman, but not those that concern the relationship between man and God. Here the Torah perspective can be seen to differ in some way from the Twelve Steps.
There is also an important Chassidic source in the introduction toSefer Noam Elimelech, where a Jew is encouraged to "find a friend with whom he can speak openly and share his inner world completely, including thoughts and wishes that are considered forbidden."
Certain schools in the mussar movement also utilized the technique of an individual member sharing within the context of a group his inner process and struggles. "Rav Israel Salant advocated setting up 'mussar' houses. Some would come there individually. Others might come in groups at set times, and altogether vent their feelings and thoughts with intense fervor. Sometimes a member of a group would deliver an emotionally stimulating discourse and they would encourage one another."[2]
[1] Ibid., p. 30.
[2] Rabbi Dov Katz, The Mussar Movement (Tel Aviv: Orli Press 1977), p. 42.