The Rev. J. Jeffrey Means, Ph.D., is Director of Clinical Services
and Professional Education at the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling
Center.
Jeffrey Means in the News
Author of Trauma and Evil Discusses Moral Aspects of Violence
From the article "Not Judgment, Just Life: Religious Thinkers
Taking a More Sympathetic Look at the Deep Wounds that Outlast
Trauma," by Susan Hogan-Albach, in The Dallas Morning News (June 2,
2001):
"... Trauma may produce symptoms that carry with them a mental
health diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder or various
disassociative disorders, said the Rev. J. Jeffrey Means, director
of clinical services and professional education at the Des Moines
Pastoral Counseling Center in Iowa.
" 'The responses they're having are normal reactions to an abnormal
situation,' he said. 'To label them ill is doing a disservice. It
focuses our attention on the wrong point.' ...
"Dr. Means, who has spent more than 20 years helping survivors of
sexual abuse, said the word 'trauma' is too soft, and trauma theory
doesn't go far enough in addressing the theological issues at
stake. He prefers to talk about evil.
" 'We have to move more into the moral, ethical and spiritual
dimension and use the term evil,' said Dr. Means, co-author of the
book Trauma & Evil: Healing the Wounded Soul.
" 'Evil is a process that destroys the selves and souls of people,'
he said. 'If we are going to turn around patterns of abuse and
violence, we have to start dealing with what we do that hurts one
another so badly. My hope is that putting the religious focus on
the subject of evil will do that.' ..."
Sister Mary Ann Nelson is the Provincial of the Western Province of
the Sinsinawa Dominicans with extensive training and experience in
the areas of pastoral counseling, psychotherapy, education, and
spiritual formation.
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